military, infiltrated the police, our guns going over to mexico, and the drugs coming from central america to mexico to the united states -- we have to work on our drug control programs here. we have to try and do something about more effective programs to stop people from getting addicted to drugs. but i think the legalization of drugs is clearly a debate that we have to have that. host: the next call is from the bahamas. zack, you are on the air. caller: the national times that you were " prettquoting. host: i did not know the ownership of the financial times.

caller: you may want to check that. that is not the only publication that muammar gaddafi owns. ms. lowey, you strike me as very naive when it comes to foreign -- i am surprised that you are on the forum committee. -- on the foreign aid committee. i am familiar with eastern europe. i have some background there. anything is better than muammar gaddafi. the person leading the rebels has a ph.d. i am surprised the protesters and libya -- they are sitting ducks.

maybe some kind of advice [unintelligible] i tell you, anything is better than muammar gaddafi. that is my comment. guest: let me say that you certainly seemed well informed. the secretary of state and the president are very aggressively involved in this issue. the secretary of state is going to egypt, tunisia, and libya. i think she is leaving on sunday and working actively with other members of the community. our military is in afghanistan. we are in so many parts of the world. it seems to me although i would like to stop the murder rings and the killings immediately that we have to work in coordination with the international community. host: here is a headline from the washington post, the lead story today.

you suggest the white house is actively involved. there are critics who are saying they have been dragging their feet. what is your reaction? guest: well, i think words are find but action is what really counts. we have our forces in afghanistan right now. we are actively training and working in pakistan. and i would like to say that there should be a no fly-zone. then in my conversations with the secretary and others, it is not necessarily the whole solution. i think our secretary of state

going there this week, the beginning of next week, and working with the other members of the community is essential, speaking out and supporting the opposition is one thing. but sending our young men and women abroad is another. i think that they are being cautious but very directive in their thought process. host: let's move to the larger discussion over the continuing resolution. we hear there are republicans that going to announce another short-term continuing resolution with cuts. guest: i wish i had a vision that could assure me that we would not be making massive cuts that are really going to affect not just my community but all around. we have to be very careful when we appropriate at the time of the huge debt.

let's remember that when president clinton left the white house, we had a surplus. let's just remember that. we are all part of this effort in looking for waste, fraud, and abuse, but you cannot use a hammer. in my district, when i talked to several hundred people who are involved with head start, these are working people. what they going to do with their kids? there are teachers who are preparing to be laid off because there is no money at the state or local level to support them. police, firefighters, the national institutes of health. i am hoping we can do it in a bipartisan way and come up with a plan that does not get to the bones of our government and our

services to the people. host: we are going to be taking this weekend at the virginia festival of books on "book tv." we are going to be alive at this weekend from the organization of american historians. we will have live panel sessions on both saturday and sunday on c-span3. anbama, diana is independent. caller: i appreciate you taking my call. in reference to the foreign aid, let's bring that down to the united states grassroots. well with the perception be of me if i took my husband's income and went across the road and fixed my neighbor's roof and

painted his house and advised his children while at the same time allowing my home to deteriorate? there are advertisements on the tv to help feed the children. now they are putting u.s. children in there. i wish they would amend that and make it not north american free trade but make it north american fair trade because the blue- collar labor of the united states is not surviving here. we cannot protect or clothe our own. we have to take care of home first. guest: thank you and i appreciate your thoughtful comments. i visit the food banks in westchester county, n.y., and the numbers have just increased

dramatically, not just the people who are out of work, but people who have low-paying jobs and cannot afford to feed their family. that is why i and working so hard in the congress to focus on jobs, jobs, jobs. to me, this is what our primary responsibility is it. when the unemployment rate keeps climbing, we have to focus on jobs. i agree with you that putting people to work is uppermost and is why i support the programs of the small business administration. in my community, i have seen jobs in the biotech field, going from 400 to about 1600. another company that installs solar panels went to half a dozen people to over 100 people because of support from some of the small business administration programs.

so, we have to focus like a laser beam on creating jobs. again, we do not live in isolation. what happens overseas affects us. china, for example, is taking our jobs, is frankly exporting more than we are exporting. this affects us. i mentioned the avian flu. people fly. they travel around the world. the flu does not stay in one place. we are all interconnected. when there is turmoil in one part of the world, it can affect us here at home. it is in national security issue to invest in foreign aid. host: we are almost out of time. let's take one more call. caller: good morning and thank you. i would like to say that just

what the congresswoman mentioned, if head start is not being funded properly, why are we giving to foreign aid to other countries? if there is any other country i would move to, it would be japan because they are such a great country. i want to say that we do not need to by our friends via financial aid. this is ridiculous. host: we do not need to by our friends. guest: is a matter of developing or alliances, working together in the interest of the united states of america. in haiti, when there is poverty and people do not have homes or a place to live, it is not a matter of buying our friends but to make sure we can bring stability in the country because they are right on our border. the same thing with mexico.

people travel everywhere and we are all interconnected. i hope that in addition to suppor >> in about 20 minutes we will take you live to the white house for a news conference with president obama. among the possible topics, libya and the impact of the sue tsunan the west coast. live coverage when it starts, scheduled now for 12:30 eastern, and can we'll have that here on c-span2. a new member of congress, kevin yoder, a freshman representative from kansas who also sits on the gop's appropriations study task force of the rnc. we'll show you as much of that conversation as we can until the president starts his news conference. >> host: let me introduce you to freshman member of congress,fr kevin yoder.ke he's a republican of kansas and a member of the appropriations committee.

first visit to the washington journal, i understand. >> guest: that's right.hing >> host: thanks for being here. we're glad to have you. well, we're going to talk about the federal budget and also jobs creation, but let's start with the next strategy step for the house republicans. the house republicans. "the wall street journal" is reporting a three-week bill on spending will be offered. can you tell us more? guest: house leadership is working on putting together a package of spending reductions that will keep the government open while keeping their commitment to reducing the size of the federal budget. about a week and have ago, we passed a two-week extension that will expire on march 18. we are working on trying to come up with another extension. the end goal is to come up with an extension until the end of the fiscal year, which ends in september. in the meantime, as we try to negotiate what that bill will look like with the senate, we need to keep the government operating.

our commitment is to reduce spending while doing that. i think our bill will continue to cut billions in spending while keeping the government functioning. host: how important is it for you to keep the government functioning? guest: i do not think the americans sent us here to shut down government. they sent us here to solve problems and reduce the size of the budget. i think americans in both parties from coast to coast want people in washington to lead and solve problems and reduce the size of the federal budget. i do not think shutting down the budget is the message that the americans are sending to us. they want us to try to solve problems. host: i want to show a brief clip from the senate floor. majority leader harry reid yesterday. let's listen. >> i can only speak for my caucus. we accept the lessons of yesterday's vote. we know we will have to make a sacrifice to reach consensus. we are willing to do that.

republicans have to be willing to move their position also. host: i have a number of questions. as a freshman member of the house, what has your lesson than about the bicameral legislature and when things move to the senate floor? guest: we are two for two. the senate is struggling in finding a consensus. the senate and house operate differently. the republicans are a minority in washington with the senate run by the democrats as well as the executive branch. we know we will not be able to push something through without the senate in gauging and doing their part. we are all watched fall. we are doing everything we can to try to advocate for what we think they should do. ultimately, the senate will have to leave. at this point, it does not seem like they have a concise plan. host: i want to give you the phone numbers so you can join in

on the conversation about funding the government for this year. also, there's work going on on the 2012 federal budget. you can reach us by e-mail and twitter. lots of ways to get involved if you would like to ask questions of kevin yoder of kansas. he also suggested that republicans will need to compromise. how willing are you to compromise? guest: we do not think the legislation the house passed has gone far enough. we are running a trip to sit -- we're running a deficit of $1.5 trillion. the bill would reduce spending by about $5 billion. the rest of the year, we have to

figure that out. we think reductions need to be greater than what the house has passed. we're not trying to force a government shutdown. we're not trying to put people in a situation where there are so many poison pills that they cannot accept the legislation. the same time, we just had an election. there's a new republican majority in the house precisely because we ran on the platform of change in the course of business in this town and reducing spending. we feel we need to stick to those principles. we understand we have to cooperate. host: papers are filled with some of the consequences of cutting the federal budget stories. here are two. "the washington times." of course, this extends to municipalities, as well. they're talking about the sudden loss of block grants. they have said it is irresponsible, vicious, and

hateful attack on the middle class that they would be cut and cut so quickly. this is "the new york times" this morning, talking about the consequences of cutting head start. this is an editorial in "the washington times" about ethanol subsidies. when it comes from talking globally to talking about specific programs, where are your bottom lines? how are you approaching this philosophically?? >> guest: it does get really difficult when you rook at every program specifically impact to individuals.in my heart goes out toth americans that are being helped by programs we've had to eliminate or reduce. i don't think in any of these situations we relish the idea we're having tohi make these reductions. the challenge is, we'rehe borrowing now over 40 cents out of every dollar we spend in washington. it is irresponsible.

americans all across this country, small business owners and families they have to do more with less. why can't government? people are tightening their belts all across the country yet the folks in washington keepth spending more and morefo and more. so there are hundreds and hundreds of programs all across this town that dohu things for americans that provide a service to them that is beneficial.ri the challenge is we can't afford all of them. so we're going through and taking very tough task of finding reductions.ge and i don't believe we can leave parts of the budget inapproached or un --. >> host: everything is on the table? >> guest: i think everything is on the table. >> host: does that include social security, medicare,at medicaid? >> guest: when we talk about entitlement spending we have to realize we're talking about making reforms in that we would never talk about any type of reform that would affect anyone 55-year-olds or over. we have to be careful in the debate, seniors worked hard w all their lives at age of retirement, resevening medicare benefits, receiving social security they can

sleep well at night knowing a their benefits are arear protected.te for folks 55 and younger we need a national dialogue. how will we afford programs going forward? do we have to haveca dramatically higher taxes? w adjust the benefit level. we're engaging in dialogue with american people. we're not coming throughn with a proposal trying to ram it through congress. we're talking to constituents at town hall meetings and discussing problems we face. we're asking input from americans. that is where ideas will come from. they will not come from a room fuel of democrats kratz in washington. >>ul host: eligibilities issues have been raised. why are they off the table right now? >> guest: adjusting benefits for folks currently receiving them is not a something we want to do in washington. we t think folks 55 and older made their life plan based upon these programs, whoye have determined that they have paid in for decades into the system, we don't think it is fair or just for seniors to start throwinge

them off of benefits that ish not the direction we want to go. what we want to do is figure out a long-term plan for those folks in their 20s, 30s, and 40s and figure out what type of system is going to work for us going forward and that the young general w rigss that to figure this out. ultimately we will come up with some solutions thato provide for a balanced and vision going forward that will recreatebu prosperity in this country t we all want. >> host: congressman we'll get it calls and we'll talk about jobs later on. a call from st. louis,le missouri who is a republican. jerry you're on the air. good morning to you. >> caller: good morning to you. how is everything? >> host:o very well. what do you think of the debate in washington over federal spending. >> caller: is heardll everything they want to take from everybody else but i haven't heard them giving up something themselves.ea i'm talking aboutp politicians. how much of a cut are they taking in their pay and benefits, et cetera, et cetera?[u >> host: okay. members of congress and their, how they're situated?

>> guest: well i think members of congress could givew up just like everybodyes else. when i was in the kansasng legislature for eight years, right before i came to congress this year we passedn legislation to reduce ourr own pay. i think that congress can and should step up and do those similar things. i think we should sacrifice and particularly lead by example. so i would certainly be supportive of legislation or amendment that would come to the floor.su one. o first things we did do wase reduce our own budgets for our office. one of the first bills we d passed cut spending on expenses inor our own office.of that was a start. but, certainly i agree with i the caller. congress can sacrifice and lead by example if this regard. >> host: kay writes about taxes writing if we roll back the bush tax cuts, debt would go down 60% overnight. >> guest: this is really the essence of the national debate. we have folks on one side of this debate that believe we should spend more money in washington to create jobse

back home. where i come from in kansas, we're not getting stimulusi dollars that are creating all these jobs in our local communities. what creates jobs, for small business owners and for folks who need help is helping out small businesses so that they can have the ability to create innovate, and create entrepreneural programs. that's where jobs are created at home, not by i bureaucrats with big programs in washington. i don't believe that sending more tax revenue to washington will create jobs or get this economy goingo again. in fact i think it will have the opposite effect. as taxes go up it is that much harder on small business owners. the other thing is, the history shows more money wete send to washington the more they spend. i think americans may be, might be more comfortableen sending more machine any to washington if they knew it with pay down the debt and create fiscal solvency. what would likely happen, washington would spend morete money and the debt would continue to grow.wa what we have in this city isnd not a revenue program.e we have revenue problem.t

we have plenty of revenue coming in we have a spending problem. many of these programs are growing far faster than the rate of inflation. at this point we've got to cut back.n we can't spend more moneyof than we have. i don't understand as a new member why washingtonan doesn't get that. there is culture in this town believes they can spend ase much as they want regardless how much they have.ve and americans are fed up with that attitude. >> host: for congressman kevin yoder of kansas our next call from cape cod. phil an independent there.it good morning. >>: caller: good morning. i have yet to heard this representative say anything about corporate america helping out america as well.rp everybody else has to help out. why, why are we giving these subsidies to these oil companies?e why are we giving corporations, these corporate tax breaks? he keeps saying that don't tax the well think because they create jobs.ec last i understood, there

aren't any jobs and they had these tax breaks for the past eight years. or the past 10 years.he so, when you keep saying the y to mom-and-pop stores, save them taxes, you know, give them a tax break because they can hire more people.ax but your small business policy doesn't apply to them. it applies to the corporations, the ones that open, two or three owners that is millionaires.ra okay. and they have got like, maybe four or five employees. so, i mean, you talking out of both sides of your mouth if you ask me. you want us to take the hit as middle class but, corporate america and upper echelon don't want to pay their fair share. so where's the fair and balance there? f >> guest: well, i think there's a culture of t overspending in washington and what? we want to createes is an efficient and effect tiff government that spend dollars wisely. so the challenge isn't why aren't we taxing enough. the challenge is why are we spending so much. i understand the call lar's

concern that jobs aren't being created in private sector. the answer isn't to create more jobs in the public sector. we've already donen that the federal government is the much larger than it needs to be.th what we need to do is figure out how to stimulate job growth back home and i don't believe greater taxes on small businesses or any businesses back home are going to encourage them to create jobs. manyne policies come out of washington over the past few years the health care proposal, the dodd-frank financial services bill, all the new rules and regulations coming to hit businesses small businesses and businesses alike have created a very hostiles climate in this country for a folks to create jobs. so people are shipping jobs overseas. they're notea keeping them at home. we have, we have one of the highest corporate income tax rates in the world. so h my dream for this country r is that we would have themy best place in the world to create jobs, start a business and grow it and builds, a prosperity of this country. and i don't believe that raising taxes is going to recreate that prosperity

that americans want to have. and so i just think i haveri disagreement with thens caller.to i think that is the wrong direction to take our country is raising taxes and creating more jobs in washington. >> host: we are trying with our limited international research to keep an eye on the earthquake and tsunami story. associated press just announced and msnbc has tweeted it, we'll show you on the screen that japan is issuing wan evacuation order to thousands of residents in that country near a nuclear power plant.s certainly we'll, keep an eye on this and as it gets closer to the hawaiian shore with the tsunami resulting from this.an watch the news and come back to us on friday morning. this is big day for people following what is going on in the world. g jobs, i want to stay on that for a minute. i pulled the bullet marched sun. this is typical what ise going on around the country.

maryland job gains prove slim. unemployment down 71,000 in january. we looked at your own unemployment rate in kansas and kansas city itself 8%. state of kansas 7.4 compared to national average of 8.9. what is happening with jobsni in your district? >> the job numbers that you're referring to, unemployment is lower than it is nationally. we have the economy is probably stronger locally than iter is nationally. >> host: why is that? >> guest: well, you know, we try to keep, we try to keep tax rates low. we try to keep a lowp regulatory environment in kansas. we try to foster innovation from small businesses. we try to be very welcoming to capital and growth. one of the things we're v focusing on in kansas cityhe is bioscience. we're trying to make the kansas city region area for bioscience and animal health. >> host: are government subsidies helping that? >> guest: in terms of

bioscience there are research dollars come frome the federal government. >> host: from the federal government? >> guest: from the federal government.re some of these things, i voted to reduce research subsidies and voted to reduce a loted of these thingsee because i can't in good conscience to borrow 40 cents on every dollar. >> d host: even if it has impact on jobs? >> guest: even if it affectser federal money that transfirst to my constituents back home. we believe a lot of projects back home can be run better h locally with state involvement or local involvement. we think when you go to washington, when you send money to washington we get less money back. it has to go through the bureaucracy. but the other issue at home is, it's not just theom unememployment rate. there are small business owners, there are folks all across the community that don't show up on those numbers who t aren't takingho pay checks. who are struggling to survive. and what they're not asking for is another washington bailout.iv what they're not asking for is greater washington taxes.wa

what they want is stability.th they want washington to stop flooding them with regulations. a great example is the 1099ea requirement we recently passed in house to repeal the requirement that every business who spends moreed than $600 in transactions has to fill out irs paperwork.he it is bureaucratic nightmare. we're trying to do things inc washington to help the businesses back home createg jobs. >> host: next call for congressman kevin yoder is becky in tampa. she is democrat there. good morning. >> caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. i have to say if we were not in two wars, and if the bush administration wouldn't have hired the tsa, homeland security, gave so much money to the defense department,ga we would be in a whole lot better shape than what we're in. w and certain things, you're a asking us to make concessions? we make concessions every

day but not one person in the senate or in the house are saying anything about their benefits. tired of the workingin people, men and women, taking this from people like you, you did not answer theta man'ski question in wisconsin. t when are you going to make concessions? get us out of these two warsnc that cost us billions everyth three days? that's our problem. thank you. i'll take my comment off the air. >> host: thank you, becky. >> guest: well, i think, first of all, i don't spend my time focusing on which president or which congress made the mistakes. i think we can certainly go through and redebate a lot of these decisions.we i think as a new member of congress and that's one of o the reasons we sent up a lot of new voices. this is one of the biggest classes in history of new members because americans in

both parties, independents all across this country, are tired of seeing washington spend more money than it has. s that goes for domestic programs and, and defense programs. and so i think there are reintroductions. the pentagon has come out and said there are r reductions that can be made. i believe, that as the president works to remove troops from overseas we'll start reducing those costs.e these are things we need to have. i understand the caller's premise. there are reductions need to be made everywhere, including defense anduc including our activitiese, overseas and the middle east. we're spending more money than we have. so i don't think we can just approach one part of thepe budget to solve this program.ey h we'll have to approach all parts. as i answer the other caller's question, i do believe we need to, i think congress should consider reducing its own benefits. i would support an amendment or bill on the floor that would do that. so, i'm happy to do that. i think that's the type of leadership we need to display. we did that in the kansas legislature. reduced our own salaries.

frankly that would be something we could do here. i certainly support that. >> host: next call, virginia beach, ruby, republican. >> follow this online at c-span.org. we're taking you live to white house with president obama's news conference. >> first and foremost, our thoughts and our prayers are the with the people of japan. this is potentially catastrophic disaster and images of destruction and flooding coming out of japan are simply heart-breaking. japan is of course one of our strongest and closest allies and this morning i spoke with prime minister kahn on behalf of the american people. i conveyed our deepest condolences for victims and families and i offered our japanese friend whatever assistance is needed we currently have an aircraft carrier in japan and another is on the way. we have a ship en route to

the mariannas islands to assist as needed. u.s. embassy personnel in tokyo have moved to an off site location and the state department is working to account for and assist any and all american citizens who are in the country. zoo nammi warnings have been issued across the pacific. we seen initial waves of the tsunami come across guam and alaska and hawaii and along the west coast. here in the united states there hasn't been any major damage so far but we're taking this very seriously and we're monitoring the situation very closely. fema is fully activated and is coordinating with state and local officials to support these regions as necessary. and let me just stress, that if people are told to evacuate, do as you are told. today's events remind us of just how fragile life can be.

our hearts go out to our friends in japan and across the region and we'll stand with them as they recover and rebuild from this tragedy. before i take a few questions let me say a few words on something obviously been on the minds of many americans here at home and that is the price of gasoline. in and economy that relies on oil, gas prices affect everybody. from farmers and truck drivers to restaurant owners and workers as well as consumers. businesses see rising prices affect their bottom line. families feel the pinch every time they fill up the tank. for americans already phasing tough times it's an added burden. of course rising prices are not a new phenomena. three years ago before the recession hit, a combination of factors including rising demand from emerging economies like china drove gas prices to more than $4 a gallon.

the worldwide recession and the decrease in demand pushed prices back down. over the past year as the economy picked up steam and global demand for oil has increased, prices have increased again. turmoil in north africa and the middle east has added uncertainty to the mix, and lost production in libya has tightened supply. now here's the good news. the global community can manage supply disruptions like this. other oil-producing nations have committed to filling any gaps. we will continue to coordinate closely with our international partners to keep all options on the table when it comes to any supply disruptions. here at home everybody should know that that should the situation demand it, we're prepared to tap the significant stockpile of oil we have in the strategic petroleum reserve. we're also using resources at our disposal at the federal level to monitor any

possible manipulation in the oil markets. and i'm asking the attorney general and relevant state, relevant agencies to work with states attorneys general to monitor for price gouging to make sure nobody is taking advantage of working families at the pump. in addition, america is better-prepared for supply disruptions than we used to be. today we use 7% less oil than we did in 2005. even as our economy has grown since then. partly because our economy as a whole is more efficient. we're adapting. we're producing more oil and we're importing less. our automakers for example, are manufacturing more fuel-efficient cars. some that now get more than 50 miles to the gallon and our consumers are driving more of these cars. in december, democrats and republicans came together to pass a payroll tax cut that is already helping to grow our economy and create jobs.

in the wake of rising gas prices, it should also help acts as a cushion for working families. this doesn't lessen our commitment to do everything we can to get gas prices down. but that tax cut will total about $1,000 for the average working family this year, or an extra $80 or so showing up in your paycheck every month. that tax relief package is key reason even with higher prices and economists and investors like warren buffett believe we should still expect solid growth and strong private sector job creation this year. now, the hard truth is that as long as our economy depends on foreign oil, we'll always be subject to price spikes. so we've got to get moving on a comprehensive energy strategy that pursues more energy production and more energy conservation. we need to increase our access to secure energy supplies in the near term and we've got to make our

economy more energy efficient and energy independent over the long run. so let me be more specific. first, we need to continue to boost domestic production of oil and gas. last year mile-per-hour oil production reached its highest level since 2003. let me repeat that. our oil production reached its highest level in seven years. oil production from federal waters in the gulf of mexico reached an all-time high. for the first time in more than a decade, imports accounted for less than half of what we consumed. so any notion that my administration has shut down oil production, might make for a good political sound bite but doesn't match up with reality. we are encouraging offshore exploration and production. we're just doing it responsibly. i don't think anybody has forgotten we're only a few months removed from the worst oil spill in our history.

so what we've done is to put in place common sense standards like proving that companies can actually contain and underwater spill. oil companies are stepping up. that we have approved more than 35 new offshore drilling permits that meet these new safety and environmental standards. there is more we can do however. for example, right now the industry holds leases on tens of millions of acres both offshore and on land where they aren't producing a thing. so i have directed the interior department to determine how many of these leases are going undeveloped and report back to me within two weeks so that we can encourage companies to develop the leases they hold and produce american energy. people deserve to know that the energy they depend on is being developed in a timely manner. we're also taking steps that will enable us to gather data on potential gas and oil resources off the mid and south atlantic. we're working with industry to explore new frontiers of

production, safety measures and containment technology. we're looking at potential new development in alaska, both onshore and offshore. when it comes to imported oil we're strengthening our key energy relationships with other producer nations something i will discuss with president rousef when i visit brazil next week. all these actions can increase domestic oil production in short and medium term. but let's be clear, it is not a long-term solution. even if we started drilling flue wells tomorrow that oil isn't coming online overnight. and even if we tap every single reserve available to us, we can't escape the fact that we only control 2% of the world's oil but we consume over a quarter of the world's oil. t. boone pickens, who made his fortune in the oil business and i don't think anybody would consider him unfriendly to drilling was right when he said that this

is one emergency we can't drill our way out of. we can't place our long-term bets on a finite resources that we only control 2% of. especially resources that is vulnerable to hurricanes, war, and political turmoil. so beyond increased domestic production, if we want to secure our long-term prosperity and protect the american people from more severe oil shocks in the future the way to do it gradually reduce demand and do everything we can to break our dependence on oil. for example, last year we established a ground-breaking national fuel efficiency standard for cars and trucks. it is going to save consumers money while conserving about $1.8 billion barrels of oil. and we're working with automakers, auto workers and states to insure that the high-quality, fuel-efficient cars and trucks of tomorrow continue to be built right here in the united states of america. so satisfy our broader

energy needs we're working to diversify our entire portfolio with historic investments in clean energy. right now all across america our farmers are producing home-grown fuels. our scientists are looking for the next breakthroughs and our workers are back in once shuttered factories, manufacturing wind turbines and solar panels and advanced batteries that will help our cars get hundreds of miles to the gallon. these are jobs that didn't exist two years ago and we want to create millions more of these jobs. and in this, this year's state of the union address i set a goal for america. by 2035, 80% of our electricity will come from a broad array of clean energy sources from renewable like wind and solar and homegrown biofuels along with natural gas, clean coal and nuclear power. these are some steps we've already taken to secure america's energy future. over the course of weeks and months ahead we will take more. but the bottom line is this.

we've been having this conversation for nearly four decades now. every few years gas prices go up, politicians pull out the same old political playbook, and then nothing changes. when prices go back down we slip back into a trans. then when prices go up suddenly we're shocked. i think the american people are tired of that. i think they're tired of talk. we've got to work together. democrats, republicans and everybody in between to finally secure america's energy future. i don't want to leave this for the next president and none of us should want to leave it for our kids. with that let me take a few questions and i'm going to start with mr. todd. >> thank you, mr. president. want to go to start with wlib i can't. you had said that you want to see qaddafi leave power, leave office. are you prepared to use any

means necessary in the united states government to make that happen. if not, why not? in case of some other uprisings there is careful consideration not to take sides. let the libyan, let people in those countries make this decision. in this case it deems we have taken sides. so what's the red line here? >> first of all let's take a look what we've already done. my first priority was getting american citizens and embassy personnel out of libya and we got that done. the very next day we already instituted the largest financial seizure of assets in our history. and, the day after that we imposed sanctions and mobilized international community through the united nations so that across the board we are slowly tightening thes into on qaddafi. he is more and more isolated internationally both through sanctions as well as arms

embargo. in addition to that we provide ad host of humanitarian aid measures to make sure that people are not adversely affect as they cross the borders into tunisia or egypt and we will continue to do that. and, what we've done is we've organized in nato a series of conversations about a wide range of options that we can take. everything from 24-hour surveillance so we can monitor the situation on the ground and react rapidly if conditions deteriorated to further efforts with respect to arms embargo. additional efforts on humanitarian aid but also, potential military options including a no-fly zone. nato will be meeting on tuesday to consider a no-fly zone and we've been in discussions with both arab countries as well as african countries to gauge their support for such an action.

in addition secretary hillary clinton will be meeting with the opposition in the next several days and we have determined that it's appropriate for us to assign a representative whose specific job is to interact with the opposition and determine ways that we can further help them. so we're going to be in close consultation with them. so the bottom line is that i have not taken any options off the table at this point. i think it is important to understand that we have moved about as swiftly as an international coalition has ever moved to impose sanctions on qaddafi. i am absolutely clear that it is in the interests of the united states and more importantly in the interests of the libyan people for mr. qaddafi to leave and i have not foreclosed these options. now, i do take very seriously making sure that any decisions i make that

involve u.s. military power are well thought-through and done in close consultation with secretary gates, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mullen and all relevant personnel. any time i send the united states forces into a potentially hostile situation there are risks involved and there are consequences and it is my job as president to make sure we have considered all those risks. it is also important from a political perspective to, as much as possible maintain the strong international coalition that we have right now. >> are you concerned that because you called for removal, imposed all these sanctions that qaddafi feels corneredded, has no other option in his mind but to keep fighting keep fighting and in the words of your director of national intelligence he may have the firepower to potentially win this stand why you have with

the -- standoff with the rebels? >> i am concerned, absolutely. i think that is why it is so important for us not to stop where we are but to continue to find options that will additional pressure. including sending a clear message to those around qaddafi that the world is watching and we're paying attention and there have been referrals to the international criminal court. part of what we're going to want to do is change the balance not just militarily inside of libya but also change the balance in terms of those who are around qaddafi and are thinking about what their future prospects are if they continue down the course that they are on. but chuck, there is no doubt that i am concerned about it. qaddafi has, you know, a, a stash of weapons. he not only has some troops that remain loyal to him but there have been reports that he already has been hiring mercenaries. even with the financial

freeze we imposed he still has some assets. the rebel groups are just now getting organized and so, we're going to have to continue to apply pressure and that's why i say we have not taken any open shuns -- options off the table at this point. mimi hall. >> thank you, mr. president. just to follow-up on libya and i also have a budget question, you say you're concerned but is qaddafi staying, is that an acceptable option for you ever? and my question on the budget is, there has been some criticism from members of your own party about your leadership on negotiations on spending. and i'm wondering given that can you talk about where you stand on a three-week cr, on longer term priorities and what you would or would not accept on cuts, thank you. >> sure. going back to the qaddafi question, as i said before, it is in the united states's interest and interest in the

people of libya that qaddafi leave. and we are going to do the a lot, we're going to take a wide range of actions to try to bring about that outcome. when you say, is it ever acceptable, i think what you're asking is, are we going to do, engage in any potential military action to make that happen? as i said before, when it comes to u.s. military actions, whether it is a no-fly zone or other, other options you've got to balance costs versus benefits and, you know, i don't take those decisions lightly. but, let me be as clear as i can about the desired outcome from our perspective and that is that qaddafi step down and we're going to continue to work with the international community to try to achieve that and we are going to be in close

consultation with these opposition groups as they get organized to see how we can bring about that outcome. now with respect to the budget, i think it is important to understand that right now the discussion is about last year's business. we're talking about how to fund the remainder of this fiscal year. this is an appropriations task and we have been in very close contact with wall members of congress, both parties. i've had conversations with mr. mccon he will in. i've had conversations with mr. boehner. i've had conversations with nancy pelosi and i've had conversations with harry reid about how they should approach this budget problem. here's what we know. the republicans in the house passed a budget that has been now rejected in the senate. they are not going to get 100% of what they want. the democrats have put

forward spending cuts, many of them pretty painful, that give republicans already half of what they were seeking. because they're the right thing to do. many of those cuts are ones already embodied in the budget i proposed for 2012. now that has been rejected as well. so, here's what we know. that both sides are going to have to sit down and compromise on prudent cuts somewhere between what the republicans were seeking that has now been rejected and what the democrats had agreed to that has also been rejected. it shouldn't be that complicated. and, so what i've done, is every day i talk to my team. i give them instructions. in terms of how they can participate in the negotiations. indicate what's acceptable. indicate what's not acceptable. and, our expectation is that we should get this completed. now, because i think neither

democrats nor republicans were in the mood to compromise until they are 100% maximal position was voted down in the senate, we probably lost some time. and we may not be able to fully resolve this and meet next week's deadline for the continuing resolution. which means there may be potentially one more short-term extension. but, let me just make some broad points about this. number one, we can't keep on running the government based on two-week extensions. that is irresponsible. we've got a war in afghanistan going on. we have a wide range of issues facing the country on a day-to-day basis. and the notion that we can't get resolved last year's budget in a sensible way with sweer russ but prudent spending cuts i think defies

common sense. so we should be able to get it done. point number two, there are going to be certain things that house republicans want that i will not accept. and the reason i won't accept them is not because i don't think we've got to cut the budget. we do and we already put forward significant cuts in the discretionary budget. some of which have not made members of my own party happy but the notion that we would cut, for example, pell grants, when we know the single most important thing to our success as a nation long-term is how well-educated our kids are and the proposal that was coming out of the house would cut this year about $800 out of pell grants for eight million kids and if extended into next year would cut in half the pell grants that they're

receiving. that makes no sense. the notion that we would decide that, under the republican budget proposal to eliminate 200,000 head start slots, that also would mean the layoffs of 55,000 teachers, that doesn't make sense. the principle that i tried it put forward since the state of the union is, we've got to live within our means, we've got to get serious about managing our budget but we can't stop investing in our people. we can't stop investing in research and development. we can't stop investing in infrastructure. those things that are going to make us competitive over the long-term and will help us win the future. and so i've communicated directly to speaker boehner as well as to republican leader mcconnell that we

want to work with them to get to a, a sustainable discretionary budget and we think it is important for to us stop funding programs that don't work. but we're going to make sure that we hold the line when it comes to some critical programs that are either going to help us outeducate, outinnovate or outbuild other countries. last point i will make on the budget. the republican budget passed out of the house included a whole range of what are called riders. these aren't really budget items. these are it mr. call statements and i want, i have said again directly to speaker boehner, we're happy to discuss any of these riders but my general view is let's not to try to sneak political agendas into a

budget debate. if republicans are interested in social issues that they want to promote, they should put a bill on the floor of the house and promote it. have an up-or-down vote. send it over to the senate. but don't try to use the budget as a way to promote a political or idealogical agenda. i think that is the, american people's view as well. i think one of the message that is the american people have clearly sent is get serious about living within our means and managing our budget in a responsible way. and stop with the political bickering. and if we have that view in mind, then i think that not only can we get this short-term issue resolved, but i think we can actually solve the long-term budget issues as well. jake tapper. where is jake? >> thanks, mr. president.

experts say they can't recall a time when the u.s. ever had to rush assistance to a nuclear power plant in another country before. what can you tell us about how serious this is with the u.s. rushing coolant to japan because of the nuclear plant there? and then, second question, the state department spokesman, p.j. crowley said the treatment of bradley manning by the pentagon is ridiculous and counter productive and stupid. i'm wondering if you agree with that? thank you, sir. >> on point number one, when i spoke to prime minister kahn i specifically asked him about the nuclear plants and their potential vulnerability as a consequence of the earthquake. he indicated they are monitoring the situation very closely. so far they have not seen evidence of radiation leaks. but obviously you've got to take all potential precautions. and i've asked steve chu,

our energy secretary, to be in close contact with their personnel to provide any assistance that's necessary but also to make sure that if in fact there have been breaches in this safety system on these nuclear plants that they're dealt with right away. with respect, with respect to private manning, you know, i have actually asked the pentagon whether or not the procedures that have been taken in terms of his confinement are appropriate and are meeting our basic standards? they assured me they are. i can't go into details about some of their concerns but, some of this has to do with private manning's safety as well. >> [inaudible]. >> i think i gave you an answer to the substantive issue. >> one more question? how did that happen? why -- >> i don't yet have all the

details, jake, so i'm going to have to defer that question until we get more. obviously the tragedy just happened a few hours ago and there is going to be a lot of fact-finding we're going to have to determine. chip reid. >> thank you, mr. president. i'd like to go at the libya thing in a slightly different way. in an interview with cbs news, qaddafi's son said, the plan is quote to squash the rebels with no mercy. if he follows through. if the qaddafi regime follows through on that, can the united states simply stand by and do nothing? . .

>> part situation there is for us to have some sort of alert system. if you start seeing defenseless civilians who were being massacred by qaddafi's forces, but obviously we're going to have to look at what develops on the ground on a case-by-case basis. i don't want to generalize right now and say that's what's happening, and we're prepared to step in. it's going to require judgment calls, and those are difficult ones, but we have sent a clear warning to the qaddafi

government when it comes to assaulting citizens. when he said they be going door to door hunting for people who were participating in protests, you know, that implied a sort of lack of restraint and ruthlessness that i think raises our antenna, but as i said before, what i got to do is make sure we're monitoring the situation and matching our actions with what we think will be helpful on the ground and also sustainable, and we've got to do so in consultation with the international community. >> a follow-up. do you agree with your top intelligence officials, general klapper who said it is likely the qaddafi will prevail, and if so, is this something to take a

step forward for? >> he was making a hard-headed assessment about military capability, and i don't think anybody disputes that qaddafi has more fire power than the opposition. he wasn't stating policy, so let me be clear again about what our policy as determined by me, the president of the united states, is towards the situation there. i believe that qaddafi is on the wrong side of history. i believe that the libyan people are anxious for freedom, and the removal of somebody who suppressed them for decades now, and we're going to be in contact with the opposition as well as the international communities to try to achieve the goal of mr. qaddafi being removed from power. zachary? >> thank you, mr. president. you talked about the option of

tapping the strategic petroleum reserves. can you walk through what targets have to be hit before we do the oil price, gas price, how much do you want to release at any particular moment, and in addition to energy shocks, what are the two or three gravest threats to the economic recovery and what your administration is doing about it. >> the answer to the first question is no, i will not go through the prices that would trigger the release of the strategic petroleum reserve, but i can give you a sense of how historically it's been understood. the idea behind the strategic petroleum reserve is if there's a severe disruption in the supply similar to the 70 with the opec making a decision not to sell for awhile, how would our economy continue to function and making sure that we got

sufficient supplies for that. another example would be during hurricane katrina with a bunch of refineries that have been impacted and production in the gulf has been impacted. you know, that's another example where in a short term you can fill that hole. right now what we're seeing is not a shortage of supply. refineries are actually operating at fairly full capacity at the moment. the problem is a great deal of uncertainty in the oil markets. part of it prompted by the fact that the economy is growing faster in some places more than others, but you got china, india, brazil, other emerging nations using it as their economies advance. we saw that trend already in 2008. because of the worldwide recession, oil prices went back down, but to some degree a lot of what's happening in prices is a consequence of economic

growth, and countries and economies stating to -- starting to use more oil. part of it, though, is also uncertainty in terms of what's happening in the middle east. one of the messages that i want to send today is that we are confident about our ability to fill any potential gaps in supply. libya, for example, does not account for a large portion of overall world production. they provide a type of oil that is highly valued and there's a high premium on it, but basically even if libyan oil production was suspended for a significant period of time because of the unrest there, we'd be able to fill that gap, so a lot of this has to do with uncertainty in the market and part of what i want to communicate to the market is that we're going to do what we need to do in consultation with

both other producer nations as well as in consultation with our allies who also have reserves to make sure that oil supplies remain stable and that economic growth is going to continue. i do want to repeat the point that i've made though that, you know, look, the american people feel this pretty acutely, all right? i mean, you know, we can talk all we want in the abstract of the world oil markets and what they are concerned about is this is money out of my pocket. some of the steps we've taken have made a difference, but obviously if you are in a house that requires you to commute to 50 mills every -- miles every day to your job, yoir not going to be able to sell your house immediately, particularly in this market and move closer. you may want to buy a fuel

efficient car, but you may not be able to afford it, and so you are stuck with the clunker that gets 8-10 miles a gallon. in fact, a lot of folks who are having the toughest time, either unemployed or have low-wage jobs, they are the ones more affected because they are using a higher portion of their income just to fill up the gas tanks, so we're going to try to do everything we cannot only to stabilize the market as i said to the extent that we see any efforts to take advantage of these price spikes through price gouging. we're going to go after that. if we see significant disruptions or, you know, shifts in the market that are so disconcerning to people that we

think a strategic pretroll yum reserve step should be taken, we'll take that step. obviously it's teed up so this suspect a situation -- isn't a situation where it takes a big bureaucracy and several weeks for us to implement. this is something that would take several days. with respect to the overall economy, i think my assessment and the assessment of most economists is although gas prices are hurting individuals right now and obviously taking some of the tax cut we gave them and forcing them to use it on gas opposed to buying other items that in part because the steps we took both democrats and republicans during the lame duck session that the economic growth continues in a positive trend. we saw that in the jobs report which in the private sector at least was better than expected.

we've seen the unemployment rate drop a full point, and so overall, i'm positive about the fact that we're moving slowly but surely into positive job growth over the next several months. there are some areas we're still concerned about. housing is one that i just mentioned. we got a lot of folks who because housing prices have fallen so steeply are still hurting. some of them are threatened with foreclosure maybe because they lost their job. in some cases they want to sell their house to move to a new job, and their house is underwater. essentially their mortgage is higher than what the house would sell for right now. we have a number of steps to encourage low mod -- loan modifications to encourage banks to take steps to alleviate some of that burden and clearing some of those homes on the

market, but it's a slow process. you know, you're talking about $5 trillion worth of product out there, and i mentioned that i had, you know, this conversation with warren buffet a couple weeks ago when i was giving him the medal of freedom, and he said, i'm bullish about this economy and the housing market takes time to work out because we had such a housing bubble. there was so much construction, particularly in certain states that are harder hit than others. that was then compounded by the overall recession and it's going to take some time for the housing market to improve, but we're continuing to take a range of steps to try to strengthen that process of recovery in the housing market. the last point i'll make on the economy overall relates back to the budget issues that we talked

about. if you looked at the last jobs report, growth in the private sector, very strong, 222,000 jobs created. where you lost jobs was in state and local government, and that means teachers being laid off, firefighters laid off, police officers laid off, and now we were able to cushion some of that over the first two years of the recession through the recovery act, and it made a huge difference all across the country, but now states are continuing to cut, local governments continuing to cut. it's important when we think about the budget to understand that our long term debt and deficits are not caused by us having head start teachers in the classroom. our long term debt and deficits are caused primarily by escalating health care costs that we see in medicare and

medicaid that's putting huge pressure on the overall budget, and that's why i think it's going to be important for us to have a conversation after we get the short term budget done about how do we really tackle the problem in a comprehensive way, and that means not just going after head start or corporation for public broadcasting. that's not where the money is. what it means is that we have to make sure that we're tackling defense spending. we're tacking tax expenditures and loopholes, that we're tackling entitlements, and that we're thinking about how do we, you know, really get our arms around those things that are driving the debt and deficit in a serious way and in a bipartisan way. i'll make this last question to shawn.

why don't you get a microphone so we can hear you. >> thank you, mr. president. you have contact with other leaders in the middle east, and would you praise them for reforms, are you looking at other options of other leader in the region can be supported to stay in power in the middle east? >> i'm in constant contact with leaders throughout the middle east, and i've had a fairly consistent message to all of them. number one, the united states believes in the right of peaceful protests and the ability of ordinary people to express their grievances to their government, and we oppose the use of violence in response to peaceful protester, so that's one clear message we try to

send. the second message we tried to send is that it is in the interest of the entire region to reform itself, to reform itself both politically and economically so that the incredible talents of young people throughout that region can be tacked, so that the young man, whether he's in sana or tripoli or she's in cairo, that they know if they work hard, if they are getting an education, that they have an opportunity to live a better life, that they can get a job that pays a good wage and supporting their family, and that they can have the basic necessities of life, and that they have personal security and personal freedom. now, each country is different, and so the evolution, the

process towards that vision is going to differ in each country, but my consistent message to leader in the region is that, you know, this process of change can be a great opportunity for the middle east because if you can tap into the talents of those young people, then you can start seeing the kind of economic growth in that region that you started to see in other places in the world, and there's no reason why countries in the middle east shouldn't have the same kind of growth rate you're seeing in china and india. there's nothing inherent both the people in those countries that would prevent that, but what's preventing it is the fact that for many decades you've seen a lack of opening up that allows you to take advantage of the global economy, and i think

that as i said, each country is going to be different, and it's going to ultimately be up to the people in those countries to determine the best form for them to seize this opportunity, but we should be on the side of those who want to seize this opportunity. okay? >> [inaudible] >> from japanese meeting because obviously we're concerned about what's happening in japan. >> thank you, mr. president. i'm with a japanese newspaper. two questions on the tragedy in japan. you touched on the issue in your opening statement. i'd like to ask about your personal feeling on the situation. you went to japan last year. now tsunami hits coast of japan and waves washed away cars and houses and the people are devastated. i just wanted to ask about your personal thoughts and feelings on that.

you touched on the possibility of assistance from the united states to japan. pap these -- japanese government said that they asked for help from u.s. forces in japan. are you willing to provide those assistance? >> the answer to your second question is yes. i already told prime minister kahn we will provide whatever assistance they need. the main assistance we'll able to provide them is lift capacity, the ability for us to, i think, help in the cleanup. obviously, when you have a tsunami like this as well as an earthquake, you have huge disruptions both in the infrastructure. you have boats and houses and cars that are washed into main thoroughfares and that requires heavy equipment. any assistance we can provide, we will be providing.

i'm heart broken by this tragedy. i think when you see what's happening in japan, you are reminded that for all our differences in culture or language or religion, that ultimately humanity is one, and when we face these kinds of natural disasters whether it's in new zealand or haiti or japan, then you think about your own family and you think how would you feel if you lost a loved one, or if your entire life savings were gone because the devastation, and the japanese people are such close friends of ours, and i have such a close personal friendship and connection to the japanese people in part because i grew up in hawaii where i was familiar

with japanese culture that that just makes, you know, our concerns that much more acute, but i'm very confident though, obviously, that the japanese people are so resourceful. japan is such a powerful economy and such an advanced economy. japan will rebuild. it's dealt with natural disasters before, will again, and japan will come back stronger than ever hopefully with our help. all right? thank you very much, everybody. [inaudible conversations] >> earlier, in the news conference, the president said he spoke to the prime minister saying the u.s. was rushing nuclear coolant to japan over the as a vulnerability of the nuclear plants there.

there was a number of questions about libya there, and hillary clinton is heading there next week. more on that in a moment. in case you miss the the conference, we'll air it again tonight at eight o'clock eastern on c-span2. also, just a reminder too coming up at 2:30, more about libya here on c-span2 as libyan human development forum, live at 2:30. secretary of state clinton yesterday at a capitol hearing says she's meeting with members of the libyan opposition next week during a visit to cairo and the capitol of tunisia. she talked about the foreign operations budget at the state department. the remarks came after republicans said the $59 billion request for the market of foreign operations could not be fully funded. this is a hearing from yesterday.

>> the subcommittee on state foreign operations and related programs will come to order. ment to welcome -- want to welcome everybody to the subcommittee hearing. madam secretary, thank you for appearing today to testify on the administration's fiscal year 2012 budget request for the state department and foreign assistance programs. i know last week was very busy for you as are all the weeks and for your committee, and i'm glad that we were able to get this hearing back on schedule today, and i appreciate it very much. the issues we'll discuss are critically important for u.s. national security. our efforts in afghanistan and pakistan, iraq must achieve clear objectives and demonstrate results. at the same time, we are all watching the rapidly unfolding events in the middle east and north africa. we must support efforts for reform in this region, continued investments in democracy promotion and military assistance will be critical to maintaining peace in a very

difficult environment. in our own hemisphere, drugs and human trafficking are grave concerns. powerful cartels push narcotics south and into new mexico bringing vims to our own backyard. the violence is spilling across the border. we must take action now. even with all the serious issues we're facing around the world as admiral mullen said so well, our debt is the greatest threat to our national security. we must make difficult choices today in order to protect the most critical diplomatic funding for the future. while it's not easy, the administration, the congress must work together to make wise decisions to lead this country forward and away from future threats. the state foreign operations bill supports critical national security interests, but we can't continue to spend like we have in the past. i want to be clear that i remain

committed to protecting our national security with investments abroad while giving appropriate attention to our economic recovery here at home. while this congress and the administration still have a great deal of work to do, the state foreign operations portion of hr1, the continuing resolution passed by the house a few weeks ago, was a first attempt to achieve the right balance. this bill prioritized the front line states of afghanistan, pakistan, and iraq and key allies like israel and jordan. at the same time, hr1 made significant cuts to programs we simply can't afford. plans to increase state and u.s.-aid staff support large multiyear commitments and boost lending by international banks must be reconsidered. the hearing today is a subcommittee's first chance to hear how the administration prioritized its needs for fiscal year 2012, the biggest budget request totaling $59.5 billion for the foreign committee which

is almost $11 billion above the 2010 enacted level. this funding level includes a separate account for extraordinary cost of operating in the front line states. i'd like to highlight several areas that deserve the subcommittee's attention. the request for iraq is billions of dollars more than the state department and u.s.-aid spent in fiscal year 2010, but this is significantly less than the cost of keeping troops on the ground, and we recognize that. as the state department prepares to be the lead agency in iraq on october 1, serious questions remain about state's capability to manage a program of this size and ensure the security of diplomatic and development staff. in afghanistan, the administration continues to focus on providing direct assistance to the government. the subcommittee will continue to watch this closely. we'll also be following how the administration monitors and

evaluates projects because clear goals must be achieved so that the civilian effort complements the military activity. it's only through an integrated strategy we ensure terrorists don't have safe havens to plan attacks october united states. i'm concerned about the security changes in afghanistan that can make the environment more difficult for u.s. employees and contractors. a reasonable agreement should be reached so there's a successful transition to afghan security forces but counterinsurgency goals can't be put in jeopardy. in pakistan, the united states continues to demonstrate commitment to an enduring partnership focused on economic, military, and police assistance to help root out extremists and support other critical investments. for israel, this budget including more than $3 billion to maintain a strong military presence in an increasingly volatile region.

while the budget proposal does not include plan reductions for colombia and mexico, there's a continued effort in these areas. the subcommittee needs to hear more about how the funding requested will sustain gains made in colombia over the last decade and help mexico build the institutions it needs to forge a lasting front against the cartels. in closing, i want to thank the men and women of this country who are serving overseas, especially those placed in the most difficult circumstances. i also want to thank secretary clinton for her dedicated service to this nation. i believe that working together we can maintain an effective and efficient diplomatic and development capacity in key areas around the world. by justifying the total funding levels proposed in this budget simply will not be possible. i hope today will be the first of many conversations to determine how the united states can remain a leader in the world

through a period of extraordinary political crisis and at the same time emerge quickly from our economic turmoil. in a moment, i'd like to turn to my esteemed ranking member lowey for her opening statement and then chairman rogers and chairman dicks if they have opening statements, and then i'll call on seniority and who was here when the meeting was called to order. i'll ask each member keep their questions within five minutes. if the time permits, we'll have a second round of question. there's a light in front of the secretary. i'll now turn to mrs. low you know ey for her remarks. >> thank you. i join chairman granger in welcoming you here. it's an honor and privilege and we thank you for your extraordinarily strong leadership. your steady hand and effective representation of the united states of america never cease to

impress me and amaze me especially during crisis like those we face in northern africa and the middle east, and we thank you. in this time of fiscal belt tightening, it's important that we not lose sight that diplomacy and development are crucial to promoting stability, improving economies, sustaining peace. these investments help prevent threats to our national security and cost far less in lives and treasures and deployment of troops. we cannot let our current fiscal crisis create a future security crisis by cutting these invaluable programs. that is why i am particularly pleased the president requested $27 billion to support global development in fiscal year 2012. assistance for addressing global

climate change, food security, and health challenges help create the conditions in developing countries for the growth of democracy, economic expansion, and ultimately increase stability. in addition, this budget requests would advance our security imperatives by drug and anticrime programs, combating transnational crime, terrorism, and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, strengthening our allies including israel, jordan, and egypt, and providing stance to prevent conflict in coal till region -- volatile regions. humanitarian assistance to victims of disaster and conflict and aide to refugees and the internally displaced encourages stability in vulnerable regions and meeting moral obligations to help those most in need. however, i am troubled that this

request does not prioritize basic education, an issue that i believe is crucial to the success of our efforts to promote health, economic development, gender equality, and long term security. over the last 10 years, i've worked to increase funding for basic education programs, and over that time, we've made significant progress. for example, in subsahera africa, enrollment in primary school increased 50%. however, despite the successes, more than 70 million children remain out of school, and i hope you will commit to me today to prioritizing our efforts in support of attaining universal primary education for all children by 2015. by the way, the amazing event you hosted at the state department in honor of international women's day. i was particularly pleased that

prime minister of australia emphasize the the importance of education, and i do hope we can continue to work together particularly focusing on girls' education which is a major obstacle in so many parts of the world. now, we know that the current fiscal situation demands tough decisions, and this request reflects a thoughtful analysis of where cuts can be absorbed. i appreciate the care the administration took to provide congress with a realistic request, however, we know from last week's debate on the continuing resolution that several programs that you have included in your request are going to be subject to reductions in the house. one area of particular concern to me is the drastic cut to international family planning that was accompanied by

devissive -- devicive policy changes. i hope that you can address what these cuts and policy changes would mean to the millions of women and family who depend on these programs, many for their basic health. finally, we welcome your thoughts on the effect the revolutions in tunisia and egypt, the unrest in libya, yemen, algeria, bahrain, oman, and jordan, and the new government in lebanon will have on both our foreign policy and our aid to the region. i smile not because of the seriousness of the situation, but the enormous challenges that you are dealing with so effectively and for that, we are so grateful and so very appreciative, madam secretary. thank you.

>> thank you. mr. rogers, do you have brief opening remarks to make? >> yes, thank you, madam chairman for the time. madam secretary, welcome to the old haunt here on the hill. we're glad to have you back here. we appreciate your service. i apologize to you. we've been playing phone tag about getting together for breakfast meeting, and i assure you that's on my list hopefully. we want to thank you for being here today. truly a historic time for the congress and the nation and indeed the world. i don't have to tell you we are at a cross roads here at home. over the last two years, we've increased discretionary spending by 24% including the stimulus funding that's increased by 84%, clearly unsustainable. since 2008, base appropriations for state foreign operations

subcommittee has grown by more than 33%. we are borrowing 42 crepts on the dollar that we spend, and it's time that we get serious about reducing spending, putting it dent in our record-setting deficit. it's difficult to believe that the administration shares my goal to cut spending when the 2012 state foreign operations request of $59.5 billion is an increase of more than 22% above the 2010 bill. even if 2010 supplementals are included, budget still represents an 8% increase. while i share the chairwoman's interest in priorities, we simply can't sustain the level of spending in this bill. we've got some tough choices ahead for us and for you, and i

look forward to hearing from you today about the administration's priorities, especially where we might be able to squeeze some spending out of the request, and i appreciate your thoughts. >> thank you. mr. dicks, do you have opening remarks you'd like to make? >> thank you. secretary clinton, i want to join with chairwoman granger and lowey in welcoming you today. the u.s.-aid are critical companies to the u.s. security strategy in essential to making americans safe at home and abroad, and i appreciated the great cooperation that you and secretary gates have demonstrated to the country and to the world, and that's quite important, and it's somewhat unusual. with this budget request, the administration seeks diplomacy in development funding levels that will result in longer term savings as we continue transition from the military to civilians in iraq and support

counter insurgency and stabilize programs in pakistan, somalia and sudan. we strive to foster stability overseas with smart power and we face domestic needs. while there's signs of recovery in the economy with the unemployment dropping to 8.9%, the creation of jobs and provision of economic security for american families must be the primary focus of this congress. there is no doubt that this will make it difficult to sustain and expand all the priorities laid out in the president's budget request, yet through our appropriation's process, i'm still optimistic we can balance our priorities, but if we are to increase our assistance to these challenging economic times, we must ensure every dollar is well spent. our investments in diplomacy and development continue to yield great dividends over time because as we all know, diplomacy and development costs

less life and treasure. they are more effective measures of lasting peace and stability. stable democracies in prosperous communities are less likely to pose a threat to their neighbors or to us. with this in mind, madam secretary, and i'm pleased the administration seeks to invest in our future like batting global climate change, food security, and global health which is clearly aimed at creating the necessary conditions in developing countries for the growth of democracy, economic expansion, and ultimately increased stability with the priorities we all share. i look forward to your statement. i look forward to hearing a little bit about how things are going in this transition in iraq where the state department is expanding its operations in the defense department bringing down its operations. i think this is a very critical moment. thank you. madam chair. >> madam secretary, feel free to

summarize your remarks, and without objection, were full statement will be submitted for the record. >> thank you very much. i want to congratulate the chairman upon assuming this important post at such a critical moment in world history, not just american history, and i want to recognize and thank not only the ranking member, congresswoman lowey, but my congresswoman. i'm delighted to be here with all the members of the subcommittee. i want to say a few words about these remoshingble -- remarkable changes occurring across the middle east. yes, it's exciting, and it also presents significant challenges to america's position, to our security, and to our long term interests. next week i will travel to cairo and tunis to speak directly with the people. i will be meeting with their transitional leaders, and i intend to convey strong support

of the obama administration and the american people that we wish to be a partner in the important work that lies ahead as they embark on a transition to a genuine democracy. we know how difficult that will be. this is the kind of challenge we've seen in other parts of the world. some countries such as most of those in the former soviet union and eastern and central europe navigated those challenges successfully. others have not. we have an enormous stake in ensures that egypt and tunisia provide models for the kind of democracy that we want to see. now, in libya, at the same time, a dictator is denying his people that same path forward, and we are standing with the libyan people as they brave bombs and bullets to demand that qaddafi must go now without further violence or delay. our dip diplomats are hard at

work with our partners including the united nations, know toe, union, the gulf cooperation counsel to isolate sanction and pressure qaddafi to stop the violence against his own people and to send a clear message to those around qaddafi who continue to enable this horrific attack on his own people that they, too, will be held accountable if they commit crimes against the libyan people. we remain engaged with the libyan sanctions committee at the united nations to consider tougher measures as the situation develops, and we are reaching out to the opposition inside and outside of libya. i will be meeting with some of those figures, both here in the united states and when i travel next week, to discuss what more the united states and others can do. now, the united states through the state department and u.s.-aid are already providing food, shelter, water, medical

supplies, and evacuation assistance to those who are fleeing the violence. we have dispatched expert humanitarian tales to assess the needs on the border, and we stand ready to expand those efforts. the military positioned assets to support these critical humanitarian missions, and the united states military, i'm very proud to say, has air lifted home hundreds of egyptian migrants that may be in the thousands by now who fled from libya into tunisia. this was a direct request from the egyptian government through the supreme counsel of the armed forces. we are considering all of our options. in the years ahead, we know that libya could become a stable, peaceful society on the way to a democracy, or it could fall into chaos and violence. the stakes are so high, not

only, although primarily for the libyan people, but for the rest of the world, and this is an unfolding example of how we are using the combined assets of diplomacy, development, and defense to protect our interests and advance our values. this integrated approach is not just how we respond to crisis. it is the most effective and cost effective way to sustain and advance our security, and it is only possible with a budget that supports all the tools in our national security arsenal. now, i want to join my voice to those of the chairwoman who has made it very clear that the american people have a right to be justifiably concerned about our national debt. i am too. i know that we have so many tough decisions that we're facing right now, that the american people also want us to be smart about the decisions we make and the investments that we are making in the future.

just two years ago, i asked that we renew our investment in development and diplomacy, and we are seeing tangible results. in iraq, almost 100,000 of our troops have come home, and calfians are -- viflians are poised to keep the peace. in afghanistan, civilian surges help set the stage for the diplomatic surge for afghan led and put al-qaeda on the run. we imposed with your strong support the strongest sanctions yet to rain in iran's nuclear ambitions. we reedge gauged as a leader in the pacific and our own area. we have nuclear weapon treaties to protect our people. we worked with northern and southern sudan to achieve a peaceful referendum and prevent a return to civil war, and we are working to open societies

and to create economies that will have political support, to have irreversible democratic transcigses. now, the process is significant, but the work is formidable that lies ahead. the fy2012 budget is a budget that will allows us to continue pressing forward. it is a lean budget for lean times. i launched the first ever diplomacy development review to maximize the impact of every dollar. we scrubbed this budget, made painful but responsible cuts. we cut economic assistance to central and eastern europe, to the caucuses, to central asia, cut development assistance to over 20 countries by more than half. this year for the first time, our request is divided into two parts. our core budget request is $47 billion for the state department and u.s.-aid. that supports programs and partnerships in every country

but north korea, and it is essentially flat from 2010 levels. the second part of our request funds the extraordinary temporary portion of our war effort the same way the pentagon's request is funded, in a separate overseas contingency operations account known as oco. instead of covering war expenses through supplemental appropriations, we are now taking a more transparent approach that fully reflects the integrated civilian military efforts. our share of the president's $126 billion request for exceptional wartime costs is $8.7 billion. all told, we have a $47 billion operational account and an $8.7 billion overseas contingency operation account.

the amount referred to as a whole is $59.5 billion. well, that is treasury, mcc, and all the other foreign aid accounts that i know you're also paying attention too, but let me quickly walk you through this because on this issue of our $8.7 billion overseas contingency operations, there's the strongest support from secretary gates, admiral mullen, and i was speaking with general petraeus last night, he will be here on the hill strongly supporting the civilian effort that goes hand in hand with what he is doing so heroically in afghanistan. we are funded vital civilian missions in afghanistan, pakistan, and iraq with this $8.7 billion. we do have al-qaeda under pressure as never before. the military surge and our civilian surge because when i became secretary of state, we had 300 civilians in afghanistan

and most of them were on six-month rotations. we were not doing our part to be a good partner to our military colleagues. we now have nearly 1200 civilians who are there day in and day out in some of the roughest terrain you can fine anywhere. our military commanders literally tell me every week that we cannot succeed without a strong civilian partner or our military efforts. equally important is our assistance to pakistan. as was said, we are trying to deepen our relationship. there are many challenges confronting us, but we know what happens when we walk away from pakistan. we did it before, and the results, unfortunately, were quite dire for us. after so much sacrifice in iraq, we have a chance to help the iraqi people build a stable democratic country in the heart of the middle east. now, while we are hoping what happens in egypt, tunisia will be positive, we already have

elections twice held in iraq. we had a government, took awhile to get set up, not as long as i would add it's taken the belgiums to have a government, but it's finally set up, and now we have to be there with support. this budget also saves us money if you look at it because the military's total oco request, and i know that congressman dicks is well acquainted with this worldwide drops $45 billion from 2010. our costs on the civilian side increases by less than $4 billion. now, we think good return on the that this country has already made. secondly, even as they bring the war to a close, we are working as hard as we can to prevent tomorrows. we prevent $4 billion from

volatile places. in yemen, the head quarters of al-qaeda and working to viet humanitarian assistance. we are working in somalia, helping the northern and southern sudan chart a peaceful future, helping haiti rebuild, and we propose a global contingency fund to pull resources for the first time with the defense department to have that expertise and cooperation to respond quickly to challenges. we also strengthen our allies and partners. we're training mexican police to take on the violent cartels and secure our southern border. we provide nearly $3.1 for israel. we s >> we help egypt and tunisia and provide assistance to over 130 nations, and i would just say we have gotten our money's worth. the support we've given to the

egyptian military over the last 30 years made it possible for us to have an open line of communication between our military leadership and the egyptian military leadership, and having trained a generation of egyptian offerses, we saw them refuse to fire on their own people under tremendous pressure. third, we are making investments in human security focusing on hunger, disease, climate change, humanitarian emergencies. our largest investment is in global health programs including those launched by president george w. bush. these programs not only stable societies devastated by hiv, malaria, and other illnesses, but save the lives of mothers and childrens and halts the spread of these diseases to our own country. food prices are reachen an all-time high. we have worked now very closely with our agriculture experts to

come up with proposals that will actually over time move people from being food recipients to food producers, and we do believe strengthening countries against droughts, floods, and other weather disasters, promoting clean energy helps us with our own security and own challenges here at home. forty, committed to making the foreign policy a force for economic renewal. we worked very hard on this to bring jobs back to the united states to create more economic growth here at home, to give you one example -- the eight open sky agreements we have signed over the last two years will open dozens of new markets to american carriers overseas. the dallas-fort worth operate, madam chairman, which already supporting 300,000 jobs will see billions of dollars in new business, and i know that chairwoman granger calls that

the economic vehicle of texas. this funds the platforms making possible everything i described. we have relations with 190 countries. having served in the senate for eight years, i know what it's like to get a phone call when an american citizen somewhere is in trouble, and one of those 190 countries, and i know what it's like to be told as secretary of state that somebody is in trouble in a country where we don't have adequate relations. we have political officers diffusing crisis, development officers expanding opportunity, and economic officers working to make deals for american business. several of you asked about the safety of the middle east. this helps fund the officers who evacuated americans from e just a minute and libya, nearly 17,000 from haiti after the earthquake. they issued 14 million passports. they are the first line of

defense against would-be terrorists seeking visas to enter our country. now, i know that 2011 is a tough time, and i sent chairman rogers a letter. i've spoken to speaker boehner. it will be very difficult for us as we are now planning our civilian efforts in an ongoing way in iraq, afghanistan, and pakistan to absorb a 16% cut that passed the house last month. we've got to do our part with the military, and i know what is often the case is we talk about nondefense discretionary, and, of course, that leaves out state and u.s.-aid. it includes the department of homeland security and defense, but here we are. i got diplomats and development experts in helmand province and kandahar trying to figure out how to have a strong robust

effort in iran and support the iraqi government. we cannot plan what we are expected to do if we can't get the budget for 2011 that we have premised the planning on. now, finally, i know how tough these decisions are. i was here in the 90s, not in this capacity, and i saw the difficult decisions we made then which put us on a path to having balanced budgets, surpluses, and frankly being on the road to actually balancing our budget. now 9/11 happened and a lot of other things happened in the following years. we are trying to get ourselves back on a strong fiscal footing. unfortunately, the world hasn't stopped while we do that, and so as i look at the challenges for global leadership from the united states, i know we are tempted to try to step back from these obligations, but every time we've done that, it's come back and hit us square between the eyes.

we left afghanistan after we pushed the sef yet union out, and now we're paying a terrible price for that. generations of americans have grown up successful and safe because we've stepped up. we think that in the world today we have more than we can say grace over, but we are positioned to try to deal with it, and we cannot do it unless we remember our national security depends not just on defense, but on diplomacy and development working together unlike anything we've done historically today to really deliver on america's security, our interests, and our values. thank you. >> thank you, madam secretary. we'll begin the questions now. i will start. we'll have five minutes each. again, there's a light in front, and when it turns yellow, that means you got one minute. madam secretary, fiscal year 2012 budget request includes funding for a number of global commitments the administration made over just the past two years, a pledge for agriculture

over three years, the multibillion dollar commitments for climate change programs at the copenhagen summit, $2 billion to fund capital increases at the multilateral development banks, and a $4 billion pledge over flee years to the global funds to fight disease. that's over $10 billion in two years only. in the times we've talked, you and i both and members of this subcommittee, talked about the high deficits and tight budgets. my hope is the administration will stop making these large new multiyear commitments, but the commitments i just named already have been made. i would ask you in your judgment how would you suggest that the subcommittee go about prioritizing those commitments? >> that's a very fair question, and i would answer it in the following ways. first, if you take our health

initiative which is building on what i saw as very good work that i supported as a senator in the initiative from president bush, that initiative has given us credibility and a very positive image in many parts of the world particularly in africa that we believe is right down the line with what we need to be doing, so on the health initiative, i would hope that we would continue to support it strongly. we have the infrastructure in place and we are really viewed very favorably there. on the agriculture initiative, what we did was to look at all the money we were paying in emergency foods. most of it was supplemental. you know, it was constantly tacked on because people were starving and the american people are generous, and this congress was responsive. we looked at that and said if we get smarter about how we taught people how to farm, bring our

experts back. we used to do that. in the 60s, 07s, and 80s, our aide went to helping people produce their own food better, and then we shifted to emergency. we think this is a good investment to lower the cost going forward. on climate change, one quick example. we have very strong allies in the pacific island nations. they vote with us in the united nations. they are some of our strongest supporters. china is making a big pitch towards them. what we hear constantly is they need help dealing with climate change because they are seeing the results. they're having to evacuate their islands. we have a lot of good that we can get in our relations with a lot of these small nations around the world by investing as we have in this budget in trying to help them mitigate the climate change issues, so we have not just coming to say these are nice things to do, but we think that they fit into our overall strategy of keeping our friends, building more friends,

and stronger relationships to benefit us in the future. >> thank you, you did not prior advertise, but you gave -- prioritize, but you gave a good lobbying effort for the programs. i'll ask you to reply in writing. i have time left. the committee, you know, of course supported mexico in the fight. >> yes. >> against drug violence. the appropriations exceeded $1 minute 4 billion pledged. i was encouraged last week as we all were with president obama in that, but the violence continues. .. measures for the mera initiative were lacking and difficult to determine the efforts to stem drug violence being successful. i wrote to you in july asking you to devote your attention to this issue. the response on the department say the government of mexico would be a close partner in the process, but, madam secretary,

five months passed since that response, and the gao testified before this subcommittee last week that it will be at least at four months before we have better information on performance measures. as we put our funding together, we will say what works and how can we prove that it work, and these programs are far t >> how can and what can you tell us about the goals and what is expanded and how long will it take to developmeas these performance measures? >> we're in the midst of that and i share your commitment to doing that. we have learned a lot from colombia and applying the lessons andng we have tried to be careful about putting money out until we could hold mexican agencies

accountable which we're trying to do and i will provide a complete reports about that ipr support the shipper period -- appreciate your support as a national security challenge. >> thank you. madam secretary, earlier this week "the washington post" reported that there was a shift in the u.s. strategy in afghanistan and you would no longer be focusing on gender issues. it reported u.s. aid has removed goals from promotion ofht women's rights for the requirement of $140 million the and reform project from a $600 million municipal reform project. is senior u.s. official saying "gender issues have to say -- take a back seat to other priorities there's the way to be successful if we maintained every special interest and pet project.

i know you pretty well. this is quite frankly unacceptable. any progress in afghanistan with regard to women's rights will be quickly thes ro o rollback by the karzai government if we do not continue to emphasize thedu importance of gender e quality through my career i have been a strong advocate for women's rights and i know that you have i don't think we can stand by to let the administration will back the critical work we have done in afghanistan.o, is that report accurate? if so what is the justification? >> it is not accurate congresswoman and i will try to find out who thatis identified officials is from the administration.ong that is not the administration policy.omen we believe strongly supporting women and girls is essential to building democracy and security. we have done as the government-wide effort to

develop the assistant strategy for women and providing more support than any time in our government's history to address the literacy fordr health, poverty, political o exclusion. part during with courageous afghan women and men and to match one of those that the women of courage e bad. we address discrimination and inequality.i do i do not want to sugarcoat this. this is really hard with a lot of challenges. there are deep cultural, challenges to doing this work. long excluded from education, health care, and everything you can imagine. than men are still dazed women are still not given the rights or the opportunity to participate. but we have seen real progresse and i think first the bush administration of the obama administration want to publicly thank mrs. bush for her leadership in this area when she was

first lady. since the fall of the taliban we have sent 2.5 million girls to school, when been in parliamentn , women in the high peace council and more than doubled our spending on women and girls and women and triple our staff and a ground starting 2009 when i got there and staff and a new 4% gender unit to keep a close eye where the money is going towo work with the afghan ministry of women of their. with the work we're now doing with research military, civilian and diplomatic, the reconciliation reintegration, absolutelycann clear when it cannot be used as pawns by the taliban or the afghan government. that if it wants to

reconcile they have to renounce al qaeda, of violence and abide by the afghan constitution. which it protects the rights women. >> another quick question of policy in v haiti and somebody has been very involved there that you know, very well. they are moving people out of port-au-prince. i have been an advocate for the committee of learning put the school in the center with economic development, because they don't have the jobs or services they go back to port-au-prince.ts a they're recent reports of the korean textile manufacturer who would provide 20,000 jobs outside a port-au-prince. we do not have enough time for you toe respond but what are we doing to really provide incentives for people to stay out of port-au-prince and provide the necessities of life so

they could have a decent life there? thank you. >> very quickly with my time last week helped to open reit -- open 80 percent of haiti's schools and assess u damage 400,000 billings and allowed a lot of people to r go back. we believe we've -- moving people out in the long runprin would be very good for the haitian economy. the very large textile plant going in on the north would whole community built to include schools as well as other facilities. >> madame chair, this would really be an amazing opportunity because we don't have al if qaeda or the terrorists and if we could do this with a model it could be replicated elsewhere. >> i would quickly add thisanno year will meant went down for the o announcement of that textile factory and i think was very positive about what

she saw there. >> i hope we go down there soon. the community is growing and being strengthened outside of port-au-prince. >> chairman rogers? >> by the way congratulations on your appointment to this post and for your service. madam>> secretary, truly common defense of the recent months of north africana and middle east happen remarkable.ommo and it seems to have one common theme that it is a popular uprising not today talk -- coup d'etat how would you explain that? and is there something we're not seeing that is causing the revolutions to take place? >> great question, chairman. i will offer my opinion i am sure the experts and

historians will come up with a significant interpretations in the future. but i think there are a sources that are converging all at one time. the united states has always advocated democracy, freedom, giving people the chance to have theirwi own lives without control from this day and everything we have seen an oprah's every she was. but until the technology revolution, that information was very hard to have widely spread and the way to help people organize so they could speak up for themselves. i giveto tremendous credit to the socials networks thatrst young people use. that is why when i first became secretary of state, i said we will have new, rich -- a new outreach through facebook and twitter

and everything going on. now we see the results of what happened to that logger in alexandria that was beaten to death buy the egyptian security forces or the university graduate selling vegetables and to be shut who set himself on fire because he had no opportunity? people know about bad and can communicate and organize over it. what we have seen is populist coming from the bottom up. that is the good news buth. the uncertain news is what happens next? we have seen the government peacefully toppled in tunisia and egypt.ing we see a very seriouswe conflict going on in libya and governments from the young men, bahrain, everywhere else looking at how they will deal with the challenges and we watch as china does everything it can

to cut off the internet because they reach the same conclusion this is a tool but never existed in human history before. parts of the internet freedom agenda is to do everything we can to keep the lines of communicationpo open so the people themselves can stand up to speak up for their own rights. >> it seems from afar that these revolutionaries have no leader. g and that is a good thing at the outset, but what do youpled do now? when you topple theow government will how do you so put to in place a democratic government or any governmentk th that has fairness involved? >> mr. chairman this is a c subject to have a lot of conversationan about hopefully weid can do this outside the formality of the hearing room but to change ideas and bring in experts. >> we do not have the show the time.

here is what we're doing we're work-- reaching out to everybody we can we did evacuate non-essential personnel and families from cairo but left a solid f teame with a solid ambassador and bringing people back talking to everybody that has ever been identified as a potential leader and working on a regular basis and i am reaching out to the new prime minister, the foreign minister, bob gates, reaching out to field marshall, we are constantly communicating.be it has been challenging for everyone starting with them. who do you negotiate with the hour bring in to site s down across the table?ad byer nature of the socialer networks, but they have no leader. t coming together through technology and the streets but not designating anybody

to be the leader so those elections will be very important. >> aid to egypt military and other wise, what can you say about that now? >> we have to continue to look for new ways to assistomes egypt. they have a serious drop of gdp andry tourism was very badly that -- hit andy economic kansas -- condition was challenging and did notec open the stock market because worried wealthy egyptians will take moneyan out of the country. they have big problems. what i hope to tell them next week is that theio approval of the $150 million g and get into prepare for elections and help train people to do their part.

but we have to look at bigger things i know from my conversations with the egyptians both inside and outside the government they are notto looking to europe or the a golf, they are looking to us and that is a good thing and we need to me there to help them. >> thank you madame secretary. >> thank you for your outstanding testimony and one thing i am concerned about is the situation in giv iraq military forces can you give us a picture of the state department? there is a major increase of the number of people there, contractors, can you giveer us the overview to tell us what your concerns are? >> i have a lot. i want to go back to the chairman's comments and

opening remarks. we are aiming to bemi able to take over the military as they leave. under the agreement signed with the bush administration , all of ouract, troops will be out by the first of the year, most of them are out by october. there has been no decision made by the current iraqi government for any request for our troops to stay. under the strategic framework agreement signed by the investigation and the state department usaid is expected to take over all of those responsibilities. here is what we are trying to do. we are trying to have a consulate in basra that is very important in the south where most oil companies will be doing business right

across from iran. we want to obviously keep the embassy in baghdad safe and to know we have a lot of alerts andot t missiles we don't know thes situation wants the troops leave and take their surveillance and intelligence capabilities with them. they want to have a consulate and kirkuk and one in the kurdish part of iraq and branch offices in moscow so we can stay on top ofp what is continuing center of an iraq and all of that cost money and we will have to put in a very significant number of contracts security forces in order to keep our diplomats say if wants the military forces leave. the total u.s. government population and an iraq following the 2011

transition would be 17,000 n personnel from dod, doj comment hhs, you name it. security contractors 50% security.re then we have life-support contractors. >> is there a number that goes with that? >>0. 50% of the 17,000. 50% securities of 17,000 kno altogether 30% life-supportpr contractors which are people who prepare the food and do that supportrun work, 10 percent management aviation and security we have to run hour on aviation assets to get people around. 10% program staff. dod is looking, as you know, congress man, to set up the office of security

cooperation outpost in iraq. they will have about 4,000 personnel out of the 17,000. it will have a direct higher, a 16% of the total and contractors make up the other 84%. that is not the optimalet situation but what we have to do too meet the tha obligations that we took on under the bush administration and that we are prepared going forward. >> too other things in the last decade the global alliance gathering has provided new access to immunization buy almost 300 million children and they have saved over 9 million lives. is the united states taking a political stage political leadership role to save the lives of children through

immunization? >> yes. one of the most important partners and it is a partnership and we get money from the gates foundation and through the fy 12 the lethbridge is from other contributors and we can demonstrate we save 5 million children live from eliminating polio from the world which would be great news. >> still ack problem in afghanistan, pakistan and nigeria. >> that's right. we're working with the alliance and i sense -- sent a team up to northern nigeria because we had to convince the leadership that polio vaccines were good for their children, not

something as a conspiracy to sterilize their children and we were successful to getng both religions and electedment leadership to do public-service announcements. re we put a lot of effortwe behind us because they w leverage ouri money. >> thank you madame chair. >> you add soleil be a of magnificent chairman of the subcommittee. >> thank you for helping me get here. [laughter]o sp madame secretary we had a chance to talk about pakistan, india and others in the region.el i cannot tell you the number of occasions i have had to discuss with people who have

knowledge in the karina, a democrat republicans and the numbers you express greater appreciation for not just a number caned a knowledge but the particulate way to go about expressing your interest in the diverse world market.ry having mentioned that, while you worry and the former job that you mentioned earlierce earlier, looking at a glance relative to what occurred an hour successful effort to deal with columbia, indeed we were successful because we could forge a coalition partners a number in our hemisphere that were willing to go a long way and then they have a real world c country and then referred to kn

mexico in connection with that. we are making some efforts there was no question of the breaking the back of the cartel and discourage without that kind of effort going forward successfully. pr what progress have we made in reals? terms? >> i well. we have we focused on mexicorida with the merida initiative predating this administration and trying to do in mexico the kind of work that was successful in colombia. it is now treating some mexican and law-enforcementanals officials we have started by building up institutional support and training and

support as well as providing equipment and helicopters and other things the mexican government wanted and needed. uldre making progress it is comparable to where they th start with columbia up. it looked pretty hopeless. it was the insurgency plus the drug cartel and hundreds of thousands of people were being dislocated it was aon worse situation than they see in mexico it is terrific but fairlyairl limited or massive dislocation in turn away. we have a president with president calderon that shares the commitment of i president uribe.now this will take time.cart it is not easily done. the other problem that we are now addressing is the

central american countries are very weak and dominated by the drug cartel. so the southern border of mexico is anav area to help the mexicans tried toause fortified because the drug czar coming north because of the problems looking at strengthening central america at the same time as mexico. >> madam secretary, in mexico we have known for a long time we know that merida seems to be alive and well but when dealing withist cartels now with dead drug lords essentially, a difficult task. i believe the department of the state needs to have our members, both houses, the

better know the harsh steps they took and the harshar steps that maybe necessary to identify a directly with car the cartel leaders. >> that is the excellent i idea. if i could take you up, we would like to putther together f government briefing here in theld house i want everybody to know what we're doing andre u what we are up against as you heard the attorney general with the rest of the murder of the consulate employees yesterday.gres we are making progress in bringing down the high value cartel leaders. but above like to know more and help and advice.ha >>nk linney thank you for that commended because it is extremely important i

believe congress would respond very positively. >> thank you chairman and secretary clinton and thank you for your testimony. my mom says high by thelc way. [laughter] >> before 9/11 august 7, 1998 the first time america was attacked by al qaeda o'quinn oure embassies were blown up killing hundreds including 12 americans is in nairobi. i have several bipartisan members who have worked to provide compensation to these 12 americans were bravely serving their country despiteo intelligence thathe show the embassies were likely al qaeda targets. says the attack the houses pass legislation during threeng separate congresses toe address the issue to be held up in a separate of the subcommittee has continually requested your department provide a legislative proposal to employees killed by terrorists but yet none has been brought forward and

the state department has failed to provide a reasonable proposal since the first requested 1999 for about sure we will include similar language in the 2012 bill. will you work with me to bring peace to those families who have been suffering over the last 13>> i years? >> i would work with you. i know this is a passion of yours ass it is for many of us. i remember meeting families of the victim's at the memorial service. w we will certainly see if there is any way.omis i will not make promises by wo work with you on that. >> thank you madame secretary.ouass the house passed h.r. one richie eviscerated theye operations fell and yesterday the senate rejected it.a they have a fiduciaries bonn's ability to ensure taxbili dollars are well spent and reflect the d interest of theter american people. the budget represents "less than zero" point* 5% as the

head of the state's department why should americans support the finding in these tough economic times and what is at stake? >> thank you for helping to set the record straight. i know in many polls the american people think we canoupo balance our budget by a eliminating foreign aid. that is 20 or 25% of the budget. thank you for saying everything that we do in the foreign aid world which is more than just the state department u.s.a. the is less than 1% maybe a little bit less. why should a hard-working o person the chair wereis e misstated texas or in illinois care about or think we should support there are three reasons, first of all, i doe believe this promotes american security and gives us tools that are in addition to an different

from our military tools and most americans do not want to see young americans going to war but tor. prevent more and work with like-minded nations to help societies' resolve conflicts which our diplomats do every day. and it is a lot cheaper than sending america to more one more time. it promotes our security but doesn't substitute for defense but is an important part of our national security arsenal. second, it supports our interest. the american people, the response after the earthquake can he deal with the concern americans have about drought in africa, that hiv/aids come at any of the challenges they see on their television screen or if you live along our border with mexico come

as so many ways americans are affected by what happens in the world around us. promoting our interest is another area where we cannot do it without the state department usa ied do every day. it reflects our values. we are a generous and rea extraordinary country and people know that.aren i am sometimes amused that although the country may bey yo publicly criticizing us thene and private they want all the help they can get and want us to support them. because we are not a former colonial power, and not andemis communism-- communism more extreme is a more fascism so we really do try to helpho people. that reflects who we are. . . nd ourselves in a peculiar position late one night defending our

bill and in an effort to eliminate the institute of peace arguments were made on the floor of the congress that the state department and the had the institute of peace have duplicative functions and therefore it should be stricken from the budget. with the secretary please like to make the distinction for members of congress big tweens lets but your mission is and the institute of peace? >> the institute of peace is a not-for-profit institution form by the congress to operationalize america's commitment to peace by working with like-mind >> you know, sometimes the united states government coming in to train people in democracy is not as effective as seeing one of our expert teams from u.s. ip or ini or ndi ring i think that's been one the strengths of american foreign policy is that we have faith-based groups working on value issues.

we have ngo's working on humanitarian disaster relief and other important matters, and we have these organizations funded directly by our government which is kind of unique but fills a real place in our whole arsenal of way we can do when we interact with people. >> thank you very much. mr. coles. >> thank you, madam secretary. i know why i got on this committee. [laughter] thank you for your testimony, and i'll be remised not to mention this. the first time i met you and former president clinton was during the oklahoma city bombing. i was in charge of liaison, and you and president clinton performed greatly not just at the moment, but months and months afterwards. thank you very much. thank you for the role i

perceive you to have played in developing our current afghanistan policy. you know, that was a tough moment. you may not agree with the am ji, but it was like the surge moment for bush. it's like when you do something unpopular even in your own political ranks. i appreciate the commitment, and i've been on the ground in afghanistan to see what your people did, and it is night and day different than it was in previous trips, so, again, thank you very much. i think it's making an enormous difference. i want to ask you, i want to go back to libya for a minute and draw comparison with egypt and get your thoughts. in egypt, we have a long standing relationship. we have a lot of contacts. we have an institution to work with and through with the army, and so i can see a more hopeful scenario potentially unfolding for us. libya is so much more challenging. we, you know, we have very little in the way of civil society and a long term relationship. we got a dictator whose back is

to the wall with no way out. he has every reason to fight to the last bullet. he has enough domestic support, and we have very few ways to directly impact this situation, and i know you are getting a lot of competing advice about no-fly zones and whatever, but i want to know what your thinking is on how to proceed step by step and what kind of assets we have to deploy here, and what you envision going forward. >> well, congressman, i think that's the question of the day because that's what we're focused on trying to figure out how to get through. thanks for your kind words in oklahoma city. i have a picture of that lone tree that survived in my home. you're right. your analysis of libya is right. you know, we didn't have diplomatic relations with

libya. we were able, thanks to a lot of good work that lasted over a number of years, to get him to give up nuclear weapons. i was involved upon becoming secretary of state to get the last of the heu out of libya. imagine what we would be dealing with if that had not been done. he still doze, as you probably know, have some remaining chemical weapons and some other nasty stuff that we're concerned about, so really we're working on three different levels simultaneously. first, we are working to create an international consensus because we think that is absolutely critical to anything that anybody, especially us, does. you can see that there's a lot of ambivalence in the international community because for the reason that you pointed out, people don't know what the opposition represents. they don't know the most effective way to try to, you know, get rid of qadaffi.

everybody is working hard. nato is working hard, and us in our own government looking at every option imaginable. at the same time, we are pushing out humanitarian assistance. we really believe that getting in as much help particularly for those leaving libya, but also increasingly if we can figure out how to do it safely, assisting those on the ground running short of medical supplies who need doctors, who need in some instances clean water, ect., that we're able to help them to get a clear way to do that. we're trying to sanction access he has to his accounts. we're trying to make it clear to the people around him that there will be an accountability through the international criminal court and other steps taken, but i appreciate the tenor of your question because if this were easy, we would have already done it, but this is not

egypt where we did have 30 years of relationships. it is a much less easily understood situation, but we're making progress. we're talking to a lot of the opposition leaders. i will, as i said, be meeting with them myself. we are suspending our relationships with the existing libyan embassy, so we expect them to end operating as the embassy of libya, and we're looking to see whether there is any willingness in the international community to provide any authorization for further steps. i am one of those who believes that absent international authorization, the united states acting alone would be stepping into a situation whose con convinces are unforeseeable, and i know that's the way our

military feels. it's easy for people to say do this and do that, and then they turn and say, okay, u.s., go do it. you use your assets. you use, you know, your men and women. you do it, and you take the consequences if something bad happened. i want to remind people we had a no-fly zone over iraq, and it didn't prevent saddam hussein from slaughter people on the ground and did not get him out of office. there was 78 days of bombing in serbia. it did not get him out of kosovo until we put troops on the ground with our allies. i really want people to understand what we are looking at, and i will reiterate what the president has said and what our administration has consistently said. we are considering everything, but we think it's important that the congress and the public understand as much as possible

about what that actually means, and i can assure you the president isn't going to make any decision without careful thought and deliberation. >> i appreciate the thoughtfulnd and caution. i really do. i'll preserve my questions. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you for the absolutely extraordinary job you do. you've been a fabulous secretary of state. let me pick up where my colleague left off. i'll concur completely with the idea we need to do whatever we do with respect to the libyan concert and international community. what made these revolutions powerful is they are indigenous. they have not been at the tip of the american speer or imposed from outside. all that being said, i hope that we can find success working with the international community to

take as aggressive and swift action as possible. it is just excruciating to watch the libyan people attacked by their own government with all the powerful machinery of the libyan military. it's just devastating and tragic to watch. i think this period is one of the most promising potentially that we've seen in decades with the transition that's going on in the middle east and north africa, and what happens in the next couple years may be something as moe mentous as the collapse of the soviet union and the legacy of this administration may have as much to do with this as anything else and maybe a lot more. the success of what's begun in tunisia and egypt i think is such an enormous priority. in terms of underminding al-qaeda narrative, what happens in those countries may eclipse

significance of anything what happened in iraq with much less cost of life and treasure, so i'm all in favor of whatever investment we can make in these people-powered revolutions, and i know when the collapse of the soviet union took place, we were in economic recession, and it didn't stop us from helping rebuild eastern europe and help the democracies and our current economic circumstances cannot cripple us from seeing the opportunity and the necessity of a vigorous effort now. a lot of these revolutions have been powered by economic factors, not just political ones, and their success may depend on economic factors. if the american people don't see progress in the economy, we may trade one regime for another. i wanted to ask you about that. there's been reprogramming that you mentioned with respect to egypt.

can we do reprogramming to help the to tunisia people and that's a great prospect for to niece sha with a smaller population. do we need to look at the collaboration of military assistance to egypt in a finite resourced world? i mean, obviously our relationship with the military is key. we don't want to do anything to undermind that. at the same time, there's a tremendous civilian economic need, so how can we find the resources to help those countries economically stay on the path they are on? >> i think you're asking the right question because i believe that if people don't see some improvement in their economic circumstances, they will become discouraged and maybe even start to turn away from democracy, and we can't permit that to happen if we have any role to play, we need to play it.

again, i mean, a lot of it comes down to the money that we already have that we're trying to reprogram. we're going to be -- i'll be working to get up to $20 million for tunisia to respond to some of their needs. when i met with the secretary of state of tunisia a week and a half ago, they said we want american help. we remember america was with us when we became independent in the 1960s which goes back to the feelings and values people have. you're right. we need to have a very big commitment to tunisia that we can be ready to help them economically as well as with their democratic transformation. similarly, with egypt, they've asked us to look at a lot of different possibilities. we are doing the best we can within the budget we have, and that we can anticipate, but i

underscore your point, congressman. this is an amazing opportunity. when i spoke with the egyptian officials just over the last couple of weeks, they kept mentioning central and eastern europe. they said that's where we want to turn out. we don't want to get derailed. we want this to work, so we want to help them make it work, and i think it's going to require that we have budget tear assistance for them, economic assistance going to small and medium-sized enterprises to help stimulate the economy from the bottom up in egypt. we're looking at all of that. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, madam chairwoman and madam secretary. thank you for your service to the united states of america. >> thank you. >> madam secretary, in october -- sorry, in sent -- september 2010, you made an opening statement and said,

"rising debt levels posing the security threat in two ways. can underminds us to act and restrain where undesirable. it also sends a message of weakness internationally." i share your concerns about the threat of the debt poses to our national security. when you made that statement, that was $13.4 trillion. just last month the budget increases the debt by $13 trillion. would it be fair to say that you have 13 trillion more reasons to be concerned about the national security of the united states. >> i think it goes up to what, 14 trillion i think, but it's a big number, congressman. let me take your question very seriously because obviously you quoted me, and that's what i believe. if we're not strong at home k we're not going to be strong abroad, and i know from my own

experience both serving in this esteemed congress and in being first lady during the 90s that there's going to have to be a deal, and the deal is going to have to put everything on the table, and the deal is going to have to include revenue and entitlements along with spending because i'm just looking at this budget. you cannot get to where you and i would like to see us headed by cutting nondefense discretionary spending, so that's number one. number two, i think it is important to consider what we do as part of the nation's defense, so if this body is going to cut defense or dhs or veteran's, a smaller proportion, and they're going to cut us a much larger proportion, that has implications for dhs and dod because we're on the front line

of border security, literally the front lines in iraq, afghanistan, pakistan. we want to be treated the same way you treat defense and dhs. thirdly, i think that the budget that we proposed is a budget that number one puts everything into the budget because up until now we've been funding a lot out of supplementals. you know, both in defense and in u.s.-aid and in the department of state. you know, we kind of ride on the back of dod when they come in for these big supplementals. what we've said, and maybe it was a political mistake, but it was an honest effort to be transparent, put everything into the budget, let us tell you what the core operations are, $47 billion, and let us tell you what the front line states overseas contingency operations are, $8.7 billion. we're trying to make the case as

this committee which has such an important speedometer works with the -- responsibility works with the defense committee, you have to cooperate the same way we are. i'm in touch with secretary gates, admiral mullen, general petraeus in afghanistan because we are literally joinedded at the hip now, but the congress is still pretty stove piped. you look at the 150 account, the subcommittee looks at the pentagon amount, and the usual treatment is the pentagon doesn't get whacked very hard, and then everybody comes over and decides to make it up in the 150 account. those days in my opinion, congressman, are over. i would make that strong case for your consideration. >> thank you, oom. i have little time. so far the administration announced sanctions on cuba twice. between those time there's increased repression and

oppression. you're familiar with the case of taking american hostage even. what does the american regime to have consequences of the administration? is the administration willing to look at tightening of the regulations, harder push for democracy assistance at the very least a state department travel warning again? what will be the consequences as well, by the way, if or actually as now this american citizen has been now put through a kangaroo court, so again there's been two easing of sanctions, further oppression. will there be any consequences for the further oppression and death of a political prisoner and the american citizen? >> i'll get you more for the record, but we share your commitment for freedom and democracy for the cuban people. that's an iron ironclad

commitment. we deplore the injustice towards alan gross. we want him home. he needs to be home with his family immediately, and we mourn the loss of the prisoner and all the other abuses by this government. we share the same goals and emotions. our decision to try to engage more with the cube ban government -- cuban government only indirectly by helping the cuban people is intended to try to strengthen direct engagement and provide more support for grass root initiatives. we can disagree on the tactics, but we have total agreement on what we are attempting to achieve in terms of goals. >> thank you, madam secretary. one comment before we move on. as i said in my opening remarks, hr1 we absolutely recognize that the part that this committee and

this bill has in our national security, and so in putting that together, then we said, you know, that would be the last place to try to cut and recognize that they said nondefense discretionary spending. thank you. >> madam secretary, i could spend five minutes and more just extolling your extraordinary work as secretary of state. you bring an incredible energy and intelligence, command of the issues, and if i may say so your identity as hillary clinton. our states are better off because of your service. god bless you and god speed in your work. i want to thank you for your leadership in the united states' veto at the security counsel on that one-sided ridiculous resolution that was attempting to force an agreement on the two-state solution that is so

desperately want, but the palestinians are resisting and to criticize israel, a one-sided action, and i'm so grateful for your leadership. i hope this now closes the book on the palestinians or anyone else who would try to use the u.n. as a substitute for direct negotiations between the israelis and palestinians. the israelis want a two-state solution. they put everything on the table, and i regret that the palestinians have not come to the table, and i know you do too. i also want to thank you for your remarks at the human rights commission in jew knee that where -- geneva where you candidly and forcefully questioned why there's a separate account, a standing committee to criticize the state of israel with all the slaughter and genocide and human trafficking and all the other horrific things going on in the world, they have a standing committee only to criticize the

jewish state of israel, and i want to thank you for your very candid and forceful remarks. iran. iran to me still remains # the number one threat to the united states as national security. iran has a great interest in the instability of the north africa and in particular the gulf and throughout the middle east. bahrain is the gate way perhaps to saudi arabia. it's the banking center, our fifth fleet is there, and a lot of people are worried that iran is trying to use its influence to destabilize bahrain and take practical control of bahrain and move on to saudi arabia. do you share those concerns? do you see any iranian involvement in the protests and demonstrations in bahrain, and how can we continue to prevent iran from developing nuclear weapons and destabilizing the

regions for its own aspirations? >> thank you, congressman, and i appreciate your raising the continuing threat we see from iran. while we are focused on the developments in north africa and the middle east, we have to continue to keep focused on iran, and we certainly are. what we see happening right now, and that i can only give you that snapshot because our assessment now is that the internal discord in bahrain is a domestic phenomena that comes from the demands by the 70% shia population for greater political rights, greater economic opportunities, and it requires a domestic solution, so what we've been doing is working with

bahrain to work for themselves to try to come up with a way forward. now, there is, you know, no doubt as we have publicly and privately expressed all people according to our values have a universal right to express themselves, to associate, so assemble freely, and so we have urged the government of bahrain to respect those rights. at the same time, we've also credited what the government is trying to do through a national dialogue to come up with some agreed upon reforms that would be implemented. you know, bahrain is a friend. they are an ally. we deeply value their long time association with us. king ahmad announced that the conference solomon is to lead the national dialogue, and we are encouraged by the steps

we've seen recently that it can result in a dialogue. >> we are keeping our eye on iran. >> so far we don't see it evidencing itself, but we keep a close work on it because we think iran would try to influence anybody anywhere against their own governments and against us. that's a very big part of what we're doing. the sooner that the people themselves in bahrain move towards a national dialogue, the less concern we have about iran. >> thank you madam secretary and thank you madam chairman. >> thank you, madam secretary for being here, and i apologize for having to depart for part of this hearing. i was encouraged in you saying we stand with the libyan people as they brave the bombs and bullets. i agree, and i certainly appreciate what the department is doing with with respect to the human humanitarian efforts.

i'm concerned about what i call a lack of clarity in terms of the administration policy with respect to the various uprising we've seen throughout the middle east and in north africa. i'm concerned about, you know, repetitions of what happened in hungary and the kurds in the gulf war. i'm concerned there's a lack of clarity in terms of maybe a failure to distinguish between the madmen and tyrants who use terror to suppress their people and others who use tear gas, and my fear is that, you know, we're not sending the right messages in some cases to friends and fellows alike. i'm interested in your reaction to that question. >> congressman, i don't agree with that. i do agree these are very difficult situations, and i'm

not sure there is one response that adequately addresses the differences that exist. we were just talking about bahrain. bahrain is a very different challenge in our view then what we see in libya which is different from yemen which is different from egypt, and in each of those places, america's interest are uniform with respect that we support people's universal rights and genuine aspirations, but our approach towards each is guided by what we see on the ground and how we think we can influence. take libya for example. as i was speaking earlier with one of your colleagues, we have very few contacts that are of long standing and have a trusting relationship like we did in egypt, so we were able too have an almost daily

dialogue with officials, and i think the united states contributed to the decisions made on a peaceful resolution. we don't have that in libya. we are attempting and working overtime to see who the are people claiming to be the opposition because we know that there are some with whom we want to be allied and others whom we could not. it's a pain staking process and not a satisfying one for any of us, but it's one we have to go through. >> might i suggest there's active libyan-americans and in my district who are related to people related to the protest movement. i can get you their contacts and it might be help to your department. >> we will certainly take on board those names. >> finally, this committee's appropriated considerable funds over the past few years to build state's global and diplomatic stats. there's a five year initiative to expand foreign and civil service personnel by 25% and 13%

respectfully and whether to build up is both affordable and sustainable. similarly, we've invested, i think, in u.s.-aid development leadership initiative, but today i'd like to focus on state's staffing plans. do you plan to continue the buildup in fiscal year 2011 and what are your plans for the budget? . >> ,, we started in the bush administra. . bush and secretary rice realized that we were just not equipped to do what we were expected to do particularly the front line states, and one of the reasons i've been able to more than triple the presence of civilians in afghanistan and accept the responsibility of what we are supposed to do in iraq is because of that increase. we've been able to take our people and redeploy them and not leave out the essential functions and processing visas

in mexico or china for example. so it has been considered view not only within the two administrations but outside experts from all sides of the political spectrum who said that the state and usaid had to increase their personnel mission and and it's in accordance with what congress decides and we are going to try to do that. >> i yield back. >> mr. austria. >> thank you, madam chairman. madam secretary, thank you for being here. think you for your commitment and service to the country and we appreciate it very much. let me if i could go back to israel for just a minute because it's an important issue to me and looking at the events of the recent weeks it's highlighted the unique role that israel plays in the middle east as a reliable comes to win the democratic ally that shares our values and interest. we talked about iran which is

extremely important to me that with the trauma of the fence in egypt and libya and throughout the middle east that overall unrest in the middle east i'm concerned the world attention not be diverted and could be diverted from the danger of iran's nuclear program. and i am concerned that iran could use its time to speed up that program and crack down on the opposition of human rights activists and i think it's critical that iran understand that the world is still watching. we are watching them and there will be consequences for continued disrespect for international policy. my question is the administration has yet to sanction the non-irani in banks with turkey comes off korea, ukraine, chinese banks and the financial institutions. and i'm concerned about the lack of sanctions on companies that continue to invest in iran's energy sector in violation of the u.s. law.

the state department i'm not aware of any sanctions on any non-4n or monatana iranian foreign company for its investment in iran's energy sector and i wanted to ask you and i know there's legislation also pending that was signed i believe last july by the president which requires the state department to complete investigations within 180 days after receiving credible information of a violation. what is happening as far as the sanctions towards companies still dealing with iran as far as the bank of iran and what is the state department doing to enforce this? >> thank you very much, congressman. last summer we were pleased to work with the congress to pass the comprehensive iran sanctions accountability investment act which we call of of of the state department. and last fall i became the first secretary of state ever to impose sanctions under the prior

act, the iran sanctions act and you're right it was on a swift pace iranian firm that was a major investor in the oil and gas development that became the next test case because of until then, they're had not been an agreement upon the criteria and willingness to oppose that sanction. on the human rights side we have been designating iranian for human rights abuses and we will keep that going and i am very committed to that. we have also used tasatto to convince shell, state oil, in packs to withdraw from iran so the threat of the sanction has produced the result we were seeking. and we have also been opening up investigations, monitoring sanction activities. we are going to pursue a lot of these leads we have. some of this is in a classified

format but we would be happy to give you and your staff a briefing so we know what we are doing and how we are pursuing with a lead that we get from our investigations. >> thank you. let me say i want to thank you and your staff. we had a situation in egypt and you talked about the wonderful job that's being done with the staff. we have a situation where over in egypt during the uncertainty over their with the government and your office did an outstanding job of helping that student and other students who were at the american university over there to ensure their safety to get back to the united states and i want to thank you for your work on that and help on that and with that i will yield back. >> thank you very much. we promise the secretary would be through at noon. it's not, however, time goes fast we go down to three minutes each.

i will ask a question, one for a short question has to do with some concerns of it coming to my office about the ambassador's fund for the cultural preservation and the projects such as restoring the mosques and other religious sites has been a pretty. the h.r. one prohibited those funds but the administration is included 5.75 million in the fy 12 request for the ambassador fund. also, u.s. aid does similar funds. can you provide us with how much has been spent on cultural preservation that both the state and u.s. aid and most importantly, why does the administration think we should continue to fund projects like this? is this a program would be willing to give up for the higher national security priorities? >> madame chairwoman, over a ten year period since 2001, the

ambassadors cultural fund has provided $1,179,684 to 29 projects. mostly archaeological sites including churches, mosques and synagogues. what we have used that for, but ambassadors have used that for is to illustrate to countries respect for their culture, the history, the religion, and we think it's been a good tool but obviously this is an area where we like to give some discretion to our ambassadors so that they are able to do things that can make people feel good about america but obviously we would be more than willing to talk to you about it. >> thank you. one other concern that cannot in the "washington post" that has to do with it was a criticism of the u.s. civilian surge in afghanistan the civilian surge is hunkered down in the capitol

removed from the frontline where they are most needed. can you give an update on that? >> it's really not fair. our people are out there. that's why when our military leaders appear before you like general petraeus he talks about having our civilians right there. they are in bed with them, they go out with them and come in with them. we do have a staff in kabul because we work closely with the afghan government which is a very important priority, and we also coordinate closely with general petraeus whose headquarters are also in kabul. don't hold me to i will try to get the exact numbers, but our percentage of people now out in the country not only has gone up dramatically in the last two years but is more efficient in the way that we are partnering so can give you additional details about that. >> thank you. >> thank you again.

we want to get you out on time. two quick points. first my colleagues mentioned sanctions and i want to congratulate you and the administration for really moving that agenda in the united nations and also through state and treasury. however, there was an expos day in december, 2010. it listed many possible clues to companies getting around the sanctions. so i just want to emphasize again that this committee feels very strongly about continuing to tighten the sanctions. another issue that you have been dealing with that i know having watched you talk to many governments about corruption, corruption, i have been very concerned as have you about the fact, and i quote, fewer than 3 million of the pakistan's 175 million citizens pay any income taxes and the country's tax to gdp ratio is only a 9%. this is one of the lowest acts

to the gdp ratio in the world. and i know that you have spoken up about this. these countries have a very difficult time and we know just recently it is an outburst from the elite but if there's anything we can do working with you we understand the importance of the relationship and the alliance but the fact that we are spending billions of dollars and our tax dollars and they are not contributing with regard to the taxes. so if you have a quick comment on that i would be most appreciative. >> i have a comment to say thank you because this is a pet peeve of mine. i am more than proud to have the united states help countries in need, but it's very hard to accept helping a country that will help itself by taxing its richest citizens to start their and we know because i spoke out about it when i was in pakistan the jury first time.

the tax system is woefully in equitable and does not in any way reflect the need the people of pakistan have for schools, health clinics and so much else. so i've been very outspoken about this. it has caused some criticism, but i feel strongly about it, i feel strongly about mexico. mexico's percentage of revenue gdp is not what it should be. some countries we are helping have to face up to the tough political decisions and there's many different ways to get the revenue you need, but i think we have to look at doing more to encourage them to step up and meet their own people's needs. >> i appreciate that and in the one minute remaining i know this committee because of the tremendous budget challenges would be delighted to help you the international monetary fund not long ago i took it was 2008

rose $11.3 billion loans that was approved for the tax vv to pakistan until they ponied up and did something about the tax issue something to true leadership and we look forward to continuing to work and think you for your leadership. >> mr. lewis? >> madam secretary, i wanted to asked a question to say i look forward to other channels and opportunities to discuss the military -- >> thank you. i look forward to that. >> thank you, madame chair. i just want to make a comment about iraq, which i think you have addressed in your remarks but it's important we spent and will spend literally thousands of american lives, tens of thousands wounded of our brave men and women. we have spent and will spend trillions of dollars on that war

heretofore and in the future for health care for those who came home and others support. it would be a disaster if we did not do the follow-up after the troops were gone such that iraq became an unfriendly nation or god forbid became a satellite like lebanon of iran and iran of course as you know, madam secretary, is interested in just that and has invested in the elections and aspects of the iraqi economy, etc.. and so your statement your interest in having consulates throughout iraq fighting is brilliant as well as the work of the pentagon and their efforts. we are on this foreign operations subcommittee and madam chairman and also on the defense committee will want to

say that that is an investment we must continue to make the best we've moved or throw away all of the sacrifices that this nation has put in. >> i agree, congressman. the things that keep me up at night, which are many and growing - to about five or ten years seeing a situation like you are describing develop, where at least southern iran or maybe all the way up to kirkuk is largely under iran's influence and they lost their chance to be an independent arab nationalistic democracy and people say to us what were you thinking? you had this incredible war and you lost all these lives and have these veterans who are suffering. were you thinking? i don't want to answer that question saying well, you know, we decided once the military left we left because i think i

would be really great tragedy and unfair to all the sacrifice that this country and particularly our brave young men and women have made. >> thank you madame secretary and madame chair. >> thank you, madam chairman. just one question for a little follow-up on mr. rothman. you are trying to manage a very difficult situation that really nobody anticipated. we have the adversaries who didn't anticipate either but they are trying to exploit it. so from al qaeda and iran, what are they doing in egypt, what are they doing in libya and these other places. >> that's another thing that keeps me of that might come congressman cole. meter elon al qaeda had anything to do with these uprisings. now there are those who are of conspiratorially minded approach is and claim they do but there is no evidence of that, but there is no doubt they are going to try to get a vantage of

everything that is happening everywhere. we know from our intelligence reporting, from anecdote reporting, our embassies, political officers the everywhere iran can to get in touch they are going to either directly or indirectly through proxies' like hezbollah and hamas. there is no doubt that hezbollah, to go back to the question about bahrain that congressman schiff asked the hezbollah is an adult the late to influence bahrain and try to say you should be what we are and look at where we are with such a major influence in the lebanese government. you have got hamas on the border of egypt, you've got absolutely every reason to believe that with iran now supporting hamas they are going to be trying to do not they can do to influence the outcome. we are in a competition for influence all over the world right now. we are the leading power. we have enormous assets but in the asia-pacific we are

competing with china and africa we are competing with china and africa we are competing with iran and latin america competing with china and increasingly iran. we are not "the new york times" reports the secretary yesterday had her first meeting with one of colonel gadhafi's opponents. she met with the state departments with the libyan ambassador to the united state, mr. ali simmon allege he will be at this event at the national press club. the u.s. ambassador and the united nations are set to call for a recognition of the national transitional council of the legitimate government. this event at the national press club is just getting started licensees and to. >> will follow up with actions and policies. before i start to tell you, we have this week set up a website

with this statement press release philippians and in five days we have more than 1000 signatures -- or around 1000 pictures on the website, which is north american libyans that work. anybody can go and see this statement they are. i will ask the secretary to recite the press release in arabic for the benefit especially of our libyan population back home and those who understand every bit, followed by the price until our panelists arrived.

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[applause] [speaking arabic] [speaking arabic] >> thank you,.your dr. naeem abdurrahma. >> in the name of god, the most compassionate, most merciful statement from libyans residing in the united states and canada, after more than 41 years of living in one of the worst libertarian regimes in the world, the libyan people have

risen up to suppress their aspirations for freedom and democracy and peaceful demonstrations. the world has been shocked by gadhafi's regime responds to these demonstrations and by his public threats to eliminate all opponents, using any means. since the beginning of the protests from february 15, at the arms demonstrators have been exposed to excessive force, including the use of live ammunition in the aircraft guns, tanks and airplanes to murder innocent demonstrators and civilians and citizens. in a manner in which the world has not seen before with the sons and daughters of liberty a

residing in the united states and canada as we pray for the souls of the martyrs and elude the struggle of our libyan people for the sake of their legitimate trice announced the following: gadhafi and his regime have no legitimacy and are in no way entitled to remain in power. we call for the complete and swift application of the u.n. security council resolution 1970. we give our complete support for the february 17 revolution, represented by the libyan national transitional council, which was formed under the leadership of this church allele

and formed the legitimate representatives of the libyan people. we value francis recognition of the council on the call of american government, the arab league, the organization of the islamic conference, the united nations, the african union and all nations of the world to recognize the national transitional council as the sole representative of the libyan people and the sole agent responsible for its welfare. the national transitional council's is the only body authorized to make decisions pertaining to the political security military situation in libya and to its international relations and to determine the type of request, the type of

international support, we call on the government's, we call on all governments and international organizations to provide support and humanitarian aid to people who have been exposed to unprecedented war cries at the hands of gadhafi, his children, it is cronies and his mercenaries. we call on the american government, the canadian government, libya's neighboring countries, the international community and all of the international organizations to take steps to minimize legal and procedural obstacles that hinder relief organizations so that they may provide humanitarian

aid to the people. long-lived libya, if free, sovereign and democratic, united under tripoli, washington d.c., united states of america, march 11, 2011. 1471. [applause] and we welcome ambassador abuzaakouk and then we will open the question and answer session. the floor is yours. >> thank you very much. i'm very happy to be here today and i have to thank the libyan

community to be supporting us since i came to this country. it is my pleasure. as you know, most of what i have to say it's been said today. i want to emphasize on two points. are people think every day the regime of gadhafi is using everything in the sky, air and ground and also they are pumping from every side and using every kind of weapons they have in their hands. that's number one. number two, we want the recognition of the nic, a body which we really want to coordinate on the ground and have communication with international communities. the other thing we need are

humanitarian systems. and of course we want to have recognition from all over the world for this council. you are here to help us. i think maybe i summarized to things. first, you have to keep on capitol hill. it's very good, very strong with senator kerry, senator mccain and lautenberg. you have to show your support and for the council. and of course, you know what's going on in libya, the situation is very serious.

the regime is using any kind of dirty tricks to keep the ball. now there's another wave of killing both the assassination. today we hear that a few people have been killed in police and security. that's what i want to say. and if there are some questions, i will be better to answer. >> thank you. to add what you said, the information that some elements of gadhafi's secret service and missionaries have started to pump some streets in benghazi. not to bomb them, it will explode as if he is not attacking civilians with a different way of attacking. ambassador, thank you for the

years as decent libyans and he has shown in the united nations security council he is a true that be in. we welcome him and give him the glory. thank you. >> it is a pleasure to be at this gathering. all of us are completely aware of what is going on in libya. our people suffer. all of us know that freedom is not free. that's the lesson we inherited from our great alma mater. the council of libya is very

large. to pull out, it will be more bloody, takes a long time, but we will never hesitate. it will never overcome us. we expect a lot of him. we suffered a lot. i do expect to attack benghazi, but we continue. i am sure that he is completely insane and completely disconnected nes crumbling and

is divided. at the end of the day, think he is going to find a husband i don't know where to go or to commit suicide in his inner circle. he will be the last sign of the world in libya will be an excellent country because we suffered a lot of dictatorship. our remedy will be democracy will have a new religion, islam of freedom, society over freedom, women of freedom, use of freedom, libya of freedom. we are ready to fight the regime

of gadhafi. the libyan people when we were born against a science, we will choose this and the suffering of the time with the fascists. and they brought him -- you think you are going to take the generals of roma. my language, i should resist is

not victory or defeat. so our future is this, to fight and will never surrender. thank you so very much. [applause] >> thank you, dr. abdurrahma for the very warm words. now the floor is for the journalist first, to give them the opportunity. can the mike's the one they are and the other make here, please? where is the other mike? i have two mics. when on this site and get there on that site. i would like everyone to

recognize himself or herself first and then address whatever they want. [speaking arabic] [speaking arabic] [speaking arabic] [speaking arabic] [speaking arabic]

>> to serving under wet umbrella i'm going to work, i think that would be discussed very carefully what the department of the state and we already have the green light that we will be active to work here. and i have the authorization about maybe 10 days ago from the councils that represent the libyan people. >> in response to anyone -- >> okay, okay. [speaking arabic] [speaking arabic] [speaking arabic]

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[speaking arabic] [speaking arabic] >> whoever asks in a language, we respond to in the same language. >> i'm at the daily newspaper. ambassador aujalia coming yesterday the secretary of defense spoke of the no-fly zone on the ground.

later on in the day, national secretary advisory. have you discussed the no-fly zone as a mac means to deter gadhafi? >> well, i think at the time the effect zone is very important for the libyan people to protect from the sky because they have no way, no means to defend themselves against the airstrike. as you know, sometimes i find it very difficult when they try to make the issue just like the ambassador. i think the community is really serious of the no-fly zone in libya they think it is not that difficult, especially better than the skies are very clear most of the time. i believe now that the world as seen through the media, however

the situation is in libya is a very serious situation. it is not in libya. the media is able to take and show the world. as soon as the revolution talk and discussion starts with the department. i found a very good understanding, the problem is we are -- they are wasting time to decide what they have to do. all the options on the table they say all the time. i think we will see most about this recognition, but his plan must be stopped now. >> yes. >> thank you. i am from bloomberg news.

ambassador aujalia and ambassador shalgham, we understand you came from the state department. can you tell us what was the content of the discussion you had? >> thank you. a lot of discussion in the department regarding legal assets. the first message here in the united states are about $30 billion, to follow the process of complicated chemistry, where will gadhafi put his money and we are doing with the opinion of the security council and other states, also other countries to fado gadhafi because it's the work of our people who found our corporations beside america regarding this issue and we have a team to follow this process

and i think also it would be possible to use some of this where people regarding libya and also medicine. it is present and the libyan people is this national council. he has -- he has too used the money for the benefit of the libyan people. it takes time, it what we have now from our side one expert and one to follow this issue. and the state department has a meeting with mr. shalgham and the security following the shore of libya.

we discussed some details, what we want now from real action from nato, for the national community, to sham, the whole system of gadhafi because he is using his power against innocent people his power against innocent people is a shown. do something also to discuss the status of our mission in washington after the suspicion of the relation between the united states and libya. also, i can guarantee that our missions are still active to help our community, especially our students and our libyan community and the states as well. anyhow, i think a meeting will

be held in paris between the secretary of state department, secretary clinton and the representatives that will be very important for the meeting for president sarkozy and the advance of our national council. these revolutions are quite important. gadhafi is more week. we should be patient as i said, after 42 years of deep leadership, we started our struggle where this before. we should be patient. now the world will ask europeans, parliament, the european council, united states.

we also hope that tomorrow, the ministerial meeting in cairo will have a new vision and support our people. we say no, we don't want any to come. no, that's nonsense. now, physically we don't want any soldier to be in the libyan soil. we are ready to overrule gadhafi. but we need technology. we need the support of the international community. i know that some arab countries are not so i can see exactly to have to stand against gadhafi and to recognize the national council. i asked them -- i asked them not

to support the facility against our view, not to stand with gadhafi against our people. we don't want slogans. they should do something to stop the supply chain in libya that we will never forget any action against people who change the against people who change the people with gadhafi. i speak to them. our people will never forget anyone who gives a hand to gadhafi to kill our people. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. at the end of this --

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[applause] [speaking arabic] >> yes, yes. it's very hard to see because of the lights. >> thank you. carolyn from voice of america tv. i have a question for both of you. and your official capacity for the united states, how much are you permitted to function? are you working out of the country ambassador aujalia and also ambassador shalgham, can you report to the u.n. and go over your duties and are you under the new government? what are you achieving in the united states during this interim period? >> well, they are not from the state department, the libyan

embassy function and i still have until next wednesday, i believe the 15th, that i will be able to go to the embassy and do my job. but after that, they have to fill the embassy and they have to find a place to do my duty. >> regarding the libyan mission in the u.n., all the employees are supporting the uprising of our people. we are not diplomats now. we are freedom fighters. we are supporting our people and we are ever to do that through the mass media by the libyan regime to be ambassador and i don't know, but i am sure he's

libyan. he will never expect to represent them to be against his people. he's fighting their budget. i don't think you do key is also insane because gadhafi will never find it on this libyan to represent him anyway. and the people and all ambassadors, some of us came to me of my statement to be ambassador if you don't have everyone's salary for your whole family, will share everything with you. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you, ambassador with the "washington times." they have not officially recognize the council. they're looking for assurances from you about what your goals, which are motivations are for future libya and he represents. what assurances are you giving officials over the past couple days? >> those who are speaking about, for example, who is this council with gadhafi as the leader of israel, a summarization. in 1951 we had 2145 and two

securitize constitutions. my father was empowerment of the government in libya and he put verses of the koran and the mosque and welcomed them to devise libyan constitution. so these people are able. now we have both 150,000. we don't hear gadhafi see civil war. not good. freedom takes minutes, but democracy takes time. tunisia became free, but to have the organs of democracy, when

the french people kick it down for freedom, but how long it takes to have democracy in concepts of democracy. the libyan now is free and we are continuing our freedom. i am sure if they told you how many experience with gadhafi will have something different from a real democracy because we suffer it to leadership. i think president obama is not just a president. he's a scholar and he's working for freedom and he comes regarding the libyan to be responsible for them. if you are speaking about freedom, democracy, human rights

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>> [speaking in native tongue] [applause] >> ambassador shalgam, kimer by healey. wanted to ask you, with regard to hillary clinton's visit to africa next week, what do you hope will come out of those meetings, and will there be a formal request to the united states for assistance in terms of arms or weapons to assist in the battle the opposition is waging? and a follow up to my colleague's question earlier, just how cohesive is the

council's vision for a post-ghadafi future, and are you concerned at all that radical elements may use this as an opportunity to further interest towards, perhaps, a non seq. lahr democracy? -- non seq. lahr democracy? >> to answer your question, i don't want just to use rhetorics, but now we want something tangible on the ground from the americans. what we want from america, from the international community, from the united nations is quite clear, to stop this project. to stop ghadafi from using his air power against our people and against our investments, against our people. and they are able to do that. they went to iraq saying that saddam said he has weapons of mass destruction.

and it was lies. libya, everyone is seeing what's going on, they are killing our people! ghadafi is killing his people! not his people. it's supposed to be his people. as he says -- anyhow. what we want, to stop this bloodshed, support our people, to realize this national -- [inaudible] that represents the whole libya. the future of libya will be done by the libyans, not by the americans, not by the europeans. we are able, we have our scholars, we have our philosophers, we have our professors, we have our young people, we have -- today we were in the treasury department with

ali, and we spoke about them. they were astonished when he told him about some details and some technical procedures. so we had this generation that is able to fight and able to bin. win. the answer who started this revolution in benghazi, lawyer rates -- laureates, writers, professors -- >> judges. >> judges. women who are professors. women who are professors. libya, as i told you, will have a new society, democratic society. free women, free religion. islam of freedom, society of freedom. so all that we want from america is quite clear. we told them, we told them and we told the united nations after

ghadafi we are able to have and to build the new libya, democratic, free, moderate, modern libya. libya, all of us are muslim. all of us are sunnis. all of us, we are -- [inaudible] no faction in libya. they are libyans. they are patriots. they are fighters. and in jihad against the italians, their sacrifice are quite real. and we are quite proud of them. they are our brothers. no difference between someone from different cities, we are united. we are one tribe, the tribe of libya.

[applause] >> there is one -- yes. just to clarify, just to add to it, after the liberation of the cities in libya, most of the cities have established civilian governing bodies. these civilian governing bodies are made of lawyers, of judges, are made of the youth of the movement, and all of them are working now even though in the short period they have shown the people when the people govern themselves really, not as the slogans they used to do, they have done a better job, and the people have seen a difference. all the material that we see sometimes in the western press, it's really amazing that people don't know what's going on in libya. they speak of things we don't know as libyans. it's something very alien. there is no civil war. because there is no civilians fighting each other. there is the libyan people fighting the mercenaries of ghadafi. if mercenary ris of ghadafi are

considered to be another part of libya, that's something else. there's no tribal divisions because, as the ambassador started, we are united for the tribe of libya. and believe me, i think some of our friends in the media need to do some homework. we thank them for a lot, i but there are some buzz words. al-qaeda, there's no al-qaeda in libya. extremism, there's no extremism in libya, no civil war in libya. and those who have been in the foreign media in libya, they have rewarded it. but still we hear the buzz words. sorry for the interruption but, yes, please. >> [speaking in native tongue] >> because we started late, we'll give them another 15 minutes. >> [speaking in native tongue] >> okay. we'll give of -- we'll take five minutes more. >> five minutes. >> you need to go?

i can't see you -- >> can i ask you a question? >> just a minute. okay. >> are you worried about any -- [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] [laughter] >> no, no, we can -- okay. take two questions together and then answer them quickly. >> my name is christopher schmidt from the ap, and can i'd like to ask what my colleague asked because i think we didn't really get an answer to that. what exactly did you ask the u.s. in terms of military assistance? did you ask for arms for the opposition? did you ask for air strikes? what did you ask for precisely, please? >> okay. >> aly? >> well, i think we ask them for anything that make the solution go through and ghadafi step down. anything they can do for this. this revolution no not go back. the libyans, they have no choice. either victory or die. there is no choice. if they don't die in the world, then ghadafi, he will slaughter

them. anything we they can help with,e are ready to accept. as far as no physical presence on our side. >> please. asking about a divided libya. this is impossible, believe me. believe me. i am from the south. near the border of algeria, for example. most of my friends are from benghazi. my wife from the middle of libya. if -- you can't divide yourself, your body, you can divide libya. if you can divide yourself, your body, you can divide libya. [applause] >> for the sake of, you know, his schedule and their schedule, i'd like really to thank him very much, but ambassador want to say a word -- >> i want to say thank you, ali, thank you to the libyan

community and thank you to the press for being here today, and thank you for taking care of our cause. thank you for supporting the libyan peoples. i want to especially thank ambassador shalgham. he came to the ministry of foreign affairs, i remember, as a minister in 2000. and i don't know him that time. but i've been working at the america department and europe department and then after about one year, then he sent me o canada -- to canada to be, open our mission there. then he was my boss, and he's still. i want to thank him very much for joining us today. he came all the way from new york, and i think the speech he made in security council, i think that speech make people cry inside the room and outside and all over the world. shalgham b is a man with

principles, he is a man with thought, he is a man with thinking, and i am very happy that we have somebody like him. he stand with the libyan revolution, and he stand with the cause of libya. he believe in freedom, he believe in justice, he believe in hope, he believe in free libya. ambassador shalgham, i am very proud to know you, you were my boss and you are still. and he is now a member -- [applause] [laughter] >> i would like to thank all the panelists and especially, you know, my colleagues, the doctors, who really are the people behind this meeting with me and have been working the last weekday and night to bring this gathering together. i would like to ask to thank all the libyans, those who came from around the country to attend with us here. thank you.

[speaking in native tongue] thank you, aly, for really joining us, for being real patriot lib minneapolis. [applause] libyans. [applause] for the libyan attendance, please, you can stay here for a while. we need you to stay here. [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] >> today from the white house president obama addressed questions on several topics, including rising energy prices, the situation in libya, japanese earthquake assistance and the federal budget. you can see the entire news conference tonight starting at 8 p.m. eastern on our companion network, c-span. >> despite what passes for conventional wiz come in -- wisdom in certain circumstances, there is nothing radical or un-american in holding these hearings. >> ascribing evil acts of a few individuals to an entire community is wrong. it is ineffective, and it makes our country less safe. >> watch the entire hearing on possible radicalization in u.s./muslim communities, along

with other events before and after the hearing all online at the c-span video library. search, watch, clip and share. it's washington your way. >> this weekend booktv is live with two days of panel discussions and interviews from the tucson festival of books. authors include former governor raul castro, joyce maynard and t.j. stiles with panels on immigration, women in leadership and a look back at the '60s. also this weekend on c-span2's booktv on "after words," bbc historian peter firstbrook talks about the kenyan genealogy of barack obama with author and president of the king's college, dinesh d'souza. for a complete schedule, go to booktv.org. >> almost a decade after the war in eastern congo ended, the african country continues to be plagued by violence against

women as well as health and economic problems. the u.n. estimates that 15,000 women were raped in eastern congo last year. congo was the subject of a hearing held this week by a house foreign affairs subcommittee. you'll hear testimony from state department officials and later actor and activist ben affleck. [inaudible conversations] >> the subcommittee will come to order, and good afternoon, everyone. i want to thank you all for joining us at this very important hearing on the democratic republic of congo at this critical juncture in its history. as one might conclude from the significant media interest evident in the room, we do have a special guest witness joining us today to spotlight attention on the democratic republic oftee

congo. i am grateful to ben affleck for agreeing tosp be here to share t perspectives and that of the eastern congo initiative that hl founded.ngo. he is to be highly commended for contributing his time, finances and fame to bring the world's attention to the needs of the people who have suffered far too long and in a great deal oft obscurity. i would also like to recognize ms. cindy mccain who is also with us today. of ms. mccain is a founding member and investor in the eastern congo initiative and mc shares mr. after fleck's dedication to ending the suffering in this region.ern she also has dedicated her timei and energy to a number of other very worthwhile projects.regi she serves on the boards of ded directors of several nonprofit philanthropies includinge, operation smile which provides reconstructive surgery to children with facial deformities and the land mine removal group the halo trust. mr. after fleck and his organization are -- after flecky

and his organization are making a major contribution in focusing political will on resolving the crises in the drc and bringing constructive recommendations to the table. pol but just as importantly, he ishe setting an example for all of us as to the need to direct whatever resources and influence we may have to help those who are less fortunate and without r voice to help themselves. and his presence, perspectiveelp and example for that, the subcommittee is mostel appreciative. i'm also grateful for our distinguished witnesses who are here as well. we look forward to examining the administration's current gra strategy for and involvement in thehe drc with principle deputy assistant secretary of the bureau of african affairs, mr.-- or admiral, or ambassador, donald yam modo, and usaid's deputy administrator. we will hear about the catholic

relief service experience in the drc as well, particularly for addressing the abhorrent and widespread practice of sexual violence as a weapon of war. from their sexual and gender-based violence adviser, francesca walsh. and, finally, the subcommittee welcomes john prendergast from the enough project to learn from his extraordinary expertise, w particularly on the issues of conflict minerals. mr. prendergast reminds us boldly in his testimony that section 1501 requires themin administration to develop a strategy for addressing linkages between the trade in conflict minerals, armed groups and human rights abusers in eastern congoy by january 17th. this strategy has not yet been submitted, however, i hope it's coming soon, and that will be an obvious question for ambassador yamamoto. an individual from the drc was

asked to testify, but unfortunately, arrangement could not be made in time. i am certain that we will hear from drc citizens and indigenoun activists at a future hearing. my friends, i've had the tha privilege of traveling to the drc back in 2008, and i stillaci have vivid memories of both thef suffering and the courage of the congo leads people. a highlight of my visit was meeting dr. joe and lynn lucy, founders of heal africa hospital. i met with several women who had been subjected to severe sexual violence including rape and spoke to many women who were inl the process of healing and recovering.subj the courage, the resilience and the resolve of these victims to overcome all that had affected them was truly astonishing. and the meticulous care and compassion of the hospital staff was absolutely remarkable. i am pleased to note that usaid

has supported fist lahr prevention and treatment in the drc since 2005 including 1,000 repairs at the heal africa and panzi hospitals in the fiscal year 2010. 2005, i would note, i sponsoredn legislation that included authorization of assistance to establish centers for the treatment of on streetic fistula in developing countries. this legislation passed the house but did not get through the senate. th however, mr. ken hill, then assistant administrator for global health, agreed tod th significantly bolster usaid's funding for fistularalth programming. the women of the drc have benefited as a result. as a prime sponsor of the trafficking victims' protection ax of 2000, i am especially interested and i hope the witnesses will address this about the drc's tier iii rankino as an egregious violater when is

comes to human trafficking. has it improved since the report was submitted, and what has and can be done to reintegrate former child soldiers? the democratic republic of the congo has an abundance, as we all know, of valuable natural resources -- water, air i can'tt believe land and people -- making the drc a potentialn leader in terms of prosperity and development on the continent. like too many of its neighbors, it faces enormous challenges.kig the people of the drc have endured ongoing violence and bloodshed for decades and oftenn have not been attention to and i think why ben affleck finallyai, brings much-needed, often-neglected attention to thy drc. the country has been the scene of one of the longest and deadliest humanitarian crises in the world characterized by two major civil wars involving several neighboring countries, multiple cross-border conflicts,

fighting by and among foreign proxies, militia groups and rebelco movements, illicitg activities including the exploitation of mineral resources, an absence of governance, human rights atrocities directed against civilians by all partiesploe including the predatory congolese military and ans unreliable u.n. peace keeping force which i'm told is getting better. millions of people in the drcols have died from wars and war-related malnutrition and disease since 1998, and nearly two million are displaced. the sufferings of war have been compounded by horrific human rights abuses committed against innocent women and children. the as a whole faces enormous challenges.n the drc is one of the five poorest countries in the world with 80% of its people living on just $2 a day. on corruption is rampant aswith evidenced by the ranking 164 ouu of 178 countries surveyed by transparency international's

2010 corruption perceptions index. the country is tenth among theat world's 22 high tuberculosis countries, and malaria accounts for 35% of the deaths of children under the age of 5. life expectancy is only about 51 years. an estimated 8.2 million or one out of every eight people in the drc are orphans and vulnerable8. children. clearly, this country and the surrounding region are in desperate need of peace and the coordinated efforts of the world community to prevent a complete loss of its people's hope for the future.d ef the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections inle's november render this a particularly critical time toth focus our attention on the u.s. strategy for addressing the mano issues confronting the congolesy people and government. and given that today is international women's day, this is a particularly appropriatese occasion to recognize the courageous women of the

democratic republic of congo. in addition to the hardships that unduly impact women in t situations of conflict andic underdevelopment, the women of the drc have had to endure years of brutal victimization of rape and other forms of sexual violence used as a weapon ofs war.f an estimated 200,000 women have been raped there since 1998. their physical and psychological suffering has been compounded by the ongoing absence of measures to prevent future attacks. the impunity with which the perpetrators continue in their communities or the military, and the stigma -- wrongly placed onh the victims by congolese society. a recent report by the u.n.itar panel detailed interviews helddn with victims of sexual violence in the drc. while the plight of all they victims is heart wren with. ing, the interviews with those who are still experiencingile ongoing armed conflict are worth emphasizing.e

these women are desperately in need of the most basic necessities; medical care,med housing and a means of supporting themselves and their children. but when asked what they would like to have done to restore their lives and regain their the dignity, virtually every one wha responded that peace and security is their first and most immediate need. they pleaded with the panel toy convey this message to the worl because anything else that theye might acquire could be lost again at any time. a primary goal of this hearing is to answer these women's plea. i'd like to turn to my good friend and colleague, mr. payne, for any opening comments he might have. >> thank you very much, and let me congratulate you, mr. smith, on assuming the chairmanship of this committee.let certainly look forward tolate continue working together on these issues of mutual interest and concern that we've had over the years. certainly, want to also welcome

the new democratic members to the committee. he's not here right now, but mr. carnahan is a former chair of the subcommittee that in the last congress had jurisdictionw, over human rights which, as you know, our committee has expandet that, so he will certainly bring in experience there. and he is a dedicated advocate for the rights and needs of refugees and displaced persons,s women and passionate aboutdi assisting child soldiers as well as empowering women as peaceon builders.s, mr. carnahan's commitment to africa runs in his veins. his grandfather, a.s.j. carnahan, became the first united states ambassador to the newly-independent sierra leone in 1961, and so he has a very strong interest and has had a

number of conversations with me about africa. we also are pleased to be joined by ms. karen bass. she's not only new to the committee, but she's new tosed congress. however, this former speaker of the california assembly, thess first african-american woman to hold a speaker's gavel in the history of this nation, and so we are very pleased and honored to have her as a member of our committee. and so she's no stranger to legislating. i welcome the opportunity to help ms. because turn her -- bass turn her experience and interest in health, women's rights and economic empowerment into policies that can benefit enterprising women of africame' and their children. i'm excited to have this small but powerful team with us here on our committee.en o want to also recognizesmal

representative of mcdermott, author of the bipartisan conflict minerals act which is an important tool for accomplishing long-termnfli stability and economic growth, and he's also the author of the goa act, we call him the fatherd but he's gotten older, so we call him the grandfather now. so it's good to have my classmate, mr. mcdermott, here today.ut h it is fitting, mr. chairman, that we begin our subcommittee business for the 112th congress. by highlighting a foreign policy challenge that resonates in the hearts and minds of so many members of congress, democrats and republicans.alle the humanitarian crisis in eastern congo has captured thee attention of thousands of americans from all walks of life. our commitment to solving this problem exemplifies that americans care deeply about these issues and really want to

see a resolution. as a former teacher, i know that we must understand the problem before we begin to attack, to tackle it. we must understand the history of the congo and the great lakes region, perhaps the richest, most fertile area on the continent. many here today will talk about the ravaged militias that continue to terrorize the eastern part of the country. i want you to understand that the ravaging began in the late 1880s when king leopold of belgium savagely and gruesomely sought out to strip the congo of its vast natural resources which continued to be a source of conflict in that country back then and continues on today. .. then. and continues on today.

leopold's nightmare reign in the congo left 5 to 8 million congolese dead. and even more maimed. the atrocities that we witness today are the vestiges of leopold's bloody enterprise. for decades this region's wealth washed ashore in ships and ports. congo's loss became leopold belgium's gain. asuctis the impact is immeasurable and still plays out today and yet the impact is still misunderstood and gurnet -- underestimated. we know this gruesome history is no excuse for the ugly reign of terror of armed groups like the lra have perp traited -- perpetrated against the people of the congo. there's no humanitarian and

caught the attention of thousands of americans across this country. rape and sexual violence are used as a weapon of war in numbers that are simply unimaginable. in addition to the large resistance army led by joseph koney continues to reek havoc on parts of the drc. the drc continues to face insurgency from armed groups and humanitarian crisis continues especially in eastern congo fueled by a resource grab. the integration of many former domestic rebels from the cndp into the army presented serious challenges with professionalizing the security sector. the current reconfiguration of the congo army and units in an apparent effort to eventually draw down the u.n.'s peace

keeping operations and have the potential to leave civilians in some areas of the east at the mercy at the lr and other nonstate armed groups. all of this is compounded by the troubling political developments in turmoil and the lack of overall preparedness for the upcoming elections scheduled for november. the american people and the world are not willing to watch idly by as women and children and they are vick mizeed time after time, time and again, year after year. they advocated over the last few years or we have advocated bipartisan legislation such as conference mineral bill in the legislation. americans from red, blue, and purple districts come together for the people of the congo. that's a united effort. the people of the congo deserve to see firsthand the resounding

impact that our relatively small foreign aide investment can have on populations. indeed while the human needs are enormous, the required economic commitment is minuscule which compared to the $100 billion committed yeerl in afghanistan and trillions of dollars we have spent in iraq during our court of time during there, and the potential impact is monumental. we have to leverage the good will the american people have for the people of eastern congo by devastating and having a cohairnt and a -- coherent and focused policy there. that's what i hope for in these conclusions as we move forward. i close by saying it's fitting as mr. smith said this is on the 100th anniversary of women's day and ending swul violence as a

weapon is the greatest threat. as survivors can be young as a girl or her grandmother, we must do all we can to end this scourge. the white house, state department, and american people all understood the need to reduce violence in eastern congo. this means regulating the trade and conflict minerals that act as an economic fuel to the conflict creating the political will to reform the army making them predator or predator to protecter and tackling impunity for illegal actors that continue to enable those most responsible for mass atrocities. the united states and its role in the u.n. security counsel recently demonstrated strong leadership on the pass of the u.n. resolution of 1960 which requires the counsel and member states to honor commitments to

combat sexual violence and conflict, investigate abuses, and hold perpetrators on account. i encourage us to develop a strategy to root out sexual violence and other crimes in eastern congo. we are the biggest contributor to the united nations, and the first country to pass a law monitoring public traded companies or its neighbors in an effort to reduce the direct or indirect financing of illegal groups. the department of defense and state are engaged in initiatives to build capacity for military capitalization and justice training. we have to ensure we continue strong programs and policies that give women in the congo back their dignity. we all want to see a day when the women of eastern congo are able to feed their families, earn a living, protect and defend their communities, and

sit at the peace building table with the men. thank you, mr. chairman, and i appreciate this meeting, and i look forward to our very distinguished panel of experts. thank you. >> thank you very much, mr. payne. the chair recognizes jeff. >> thank you for convening this hear, and it is important to note that it is poignant that today is international women's day as we hold the hearing for women who have been hain yowsly victimized. 15,000 new cases of sexual violence last year were reported in the country, thousands of which involved children. those don't reflect the many women who must remain silent. the intense human tragedy continues to weigh heavily upon all of us. on numerous signs have been seen

in recent years, civil strife reached an unfast mble high in some areas particularly in the eastern part of the country. the social emergency is seen clearly in a recent study that revealed rape has increased 17-fold within the country. in the last congress we made two significant strides towards mitigating two sources of the conflict by passing the large resistance army and disarmorment in 2009 as well as the conflict minerals provisions in another law. we also directed millions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to the victims of sexual and gender-based violence, but aid can hardly keep pace with the staggering numbers of new rape victims each year. it is the worst in the world, and both its pernicious scope and unreleapting brew --

unrelenting brutality. there's monstrous series of rapes by rebel fighters. these attacks were committed less than 20 miles from a u.n. peace keeping base which only learned of the months long attack after a week after their end. since that inexcusable lapse, the u.n. with the congo government and other organizations successfully brought to trial and conflicted nine soldiers including their commanding officers for crimes of mass rapes last month. i join with the united states government in commending this conviction. the rule of law did prevail, but there are many, many more perpetrators who not only allude justice, but flout the most basic notions of humanity by bringing violence towards the daughters of the congo. our human rights concern lie not

only with the discourage of gender and sexual-based violence in the drc, child -- unicef released a new report friday saying the reintegration of 5,000 former child soldiers, forcible child recruitment is an ongoing problem. as we give attention to the vick mizeed women and girl of the drc, we must give special consideration to the plight of girl soldiers who are often victims of grow tesk sexual slavery and violence as well. these girls face heartbreaking stigma and challenges as they seek to reintegrate into their families and their community. today we look forward to hearing the efforts to help bring peace to this tragedy-worn country as

well as the on the ground perspectives from the eastern congo initiative, catholic release services, and the project. thank you all for coming today and for the important work. >> thank you. i yield to ms. beth. >> thank you, chairman smith and ranking member payne. since this is my first subcommittee meeting, i want to express my sincere enthusiasm on serving on this committee. it's also an honor to serve with chairman smith. i know that you are committed to improving lives around the world and are particularly passionate about preventing sex trafficking. i look forward to learning about your legislation and working with you. to ranking member payne, representative payne is well known in my district in los angeles, and i represent a section of my district as little

ethiopia and there's a number of african residents who live in the district, and representative payne is well known there as he is throughout the country for his effective leadership and ability to move policy that makes a significant difference around the world. i thank your witnesses for your dedication in establishing peace in the drc. your work keeps people alive and contributes to global security. the state department and the u.s.-aid played an important role in generating progress towards the stability of drc, but the united states should continue to increase our leadership in the congo. secretary clinton's visit in 2009 was a great start, but the severity of the violence and instability requires heightened and focused u.s. engagement. in fact, u.s. leadership is needed now more than ever as we approach the november elections, and we exexpect president to lift the ban on conflict

minerals in the east as early as march 10. i want to join my colleagues in acknowledging international women's day. it's been referenced several times, the consequences of the rape of women and girls, but one of those consequences is that women make up a significant majority of hiv infections in the country with little access to basic health services. u.s.-aid led the effort to provide health care and services to congo women and children. unicef coordinates program for women and girls and reduces mortality rates and improves access to clean water and sanitation and increases primary school enrollment particularly for girls who are often denied equal access. in the face of grave atrocities in the drc, we have to ensure ongoing investment in these programs. i look forward to hearing the testimony of our witnesses today to learn more about how we can

best support the congo people in addressing these hardships and ultimately transform their potential into prosperity. thank you very much. >> anybody else on the subcommittee that would like to be heard? mr. mcdermott is with us, and i know it's a breach of rules, but i'd like to yield to him. >> thank you, mr. chairman. in 1987-88, i lived in -- i was a state political officer at the state department and saw the beginning of the aide epidemic as well as the conflict that led to him leaving and followed by all what has followed. there's many friends out there, people i've known, a friend of mine from los angeles that i went to college with was a big supporter of that organization, and i've been there several times, i really came to listen

today, so thank you. >> thank you. i'd like to introduce the two distinguished witnesses, leaders in the field who have done much. ambassador is no stranger to this committee having been before us many times in the past. he served since 2009 as the secretary for the bureau of african affairs as the u.s. department of state and included serving as u.s. ambassador to ethiopia from november 2006 to july 2009, and as deputy assistant secretary of state of foreign affairs from 2003 to 2006, and we are also joined by the deputy assistant administrator of africa from october 2010 and she joe sees the offices of sudan programs and has a great deal of experience at the department, and i will without objection include both of your full bios

into the record. ambassador? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. it's a great honor to appear here before the committee, and i congratulate you, mr. chairman, on your appointment, and also to the great work your predecessor, congressman payne, and also before the distinguished members of the committee. president obama, secretary clinton, and this administration have demonstrated a firm commitment to the challenges in this region, the violence, human rights abuse, the suffering of the people in the con go, exploitation of the resources are unacceptable, and we should not tolerate it and not accept it. the work raised by the good works of the witnesses like ben affleck and others are a testimony to what the power of what individuals can do in the great lakes area, and i know my good friend john pendergast and

others who have helped move this process along. the united states continues to play a very significant role to make a difference in the lives of the people in the drc and wherever they are suffering in tragedy. in the following year the of 2003, we led an international effort for a peace process to address the causes of vims and end the tragedies that promote violence. i was honored to leave the process for four years making trips to the region. secretary clintoned traveled to the drc in 2009 as others have in the last two years. our overall arching goals and objectives in the drc to resolve it lies in government and security. you need a government that is accountable to the people. you need a security which is reliable and dependable and not part of the problem. the u.s. has focused first and

foremost on the complex security challenges facing the drc, the shocking incidents of human rights abuses continue in these areas are symptoms of several factors that fuel violence each that require its own responses. one key factor is the continued presence of violent arm groups. among the most notorious is the liberation of rwanda and the mla. they are fully capable of carrying out brutal attacks on civilians. they provided diplomatic and problematic support to disarm, demobilize these groups. the fighting capacity of these troops have been reduced in the last two years, but much more slowly than we wished it to happen. the forces of the former national congress for the defense of the people or the cndp remain only partly integrated into the congo army serving under the effect of

command of human rights abusers and the significant numbers of of children soldiers. the drc security forces compound the threat to civilians. developing and reforming these forces is a massive undertaking that requires years of assistant support. our assistance in this effort is aimed at both short term and long term progress and includes the training of vetted congo battalion, building assistance, training to officers and the principles of leadership, civil military relations, human rights, and command responsibility. there was a trade in minerals and other natural resources also encourages violences, and the effective congo response and other responses by governments and industries will be key to resolving these problems. the united states is focused on helping develop the capacity, helping to end the role of illegal armed groups, criminal

networks within the security forces and promoting corporate due diligence and supporting the development of regional and national mechanisms to certify and trace the minerals trade. we appreciate the support of the congress as provided these efforts, and we are consulting with the security and exchange commission as you have directed, mr. chairman, and our regulations to promote due diligence. underlying every element of the international community's response to the drc security challenges and the peace keeping operation in the drc. under the relationship of the former u.s. ambassador, nigh have taken welcome steps to improve effectiveness in civilian protection. we are encouraged by the improved relations between the ambassador and the drc government. a second theme is governess. it is an essential step in determines cogo's democratic future. we are watching elections that

are well and transparently administered and conducted in an environment conducive to free political expression. our other preoccupation is the area of governance and human rights. the lack of discipline in existing state forces continue to fuel existing abuses against civilians. the undertaking of substantial problematic efforts expanding on a secretary's 2009 pledge, a $17 million in assistance to respond to and prevent sexual-base and gender-based vims. we are sportive of -- supportive of the developments in the arrest and qirks of a handful of high profile alleged abusers and drc which has specialize the chambers to prosecute those who committed atrocities. the general situation, however, remains one of impunity, and many more positive developments are required to reverse this

trend. the third theme is the economic recovery which is essential in providing alternatives to enlistment in arms group and laying the foundation for development. we are encouraging the drc government to take the necessary steps to improve the climate and improve transparency. on mining the drc's eastern provinces expected on march 10, we encourage all state coders to work to ensure that minerals in the drc can be traced to their origin and use of armed forces are cut out of the trade. it is worth emphasizing that the renewed is this zone's future progress. the cooperation while improving over the last two years need to deepen further in face of new developments such as the independence of southern sudan. helping the people and their government to address the challenges they face takes time and persistence. the u.s. government intends to

remain a strong partner over the long term. the drc focused attention of the united states government and the tv of -- activities under the secretary of affairs, johnny carson with the ambassadors and ngo community partners. mr. chairman, members of this committee, thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak to you today, and i'll submit a longer version for the record. thank you, mr. chairman. >> mr. ambassador, thank you very much for your testimony. i'd like to yield to our second distinguished witness. >> good afternoon, chairman smith, ranking member payne, members of the subcommittee. thank you for inviting me to discuss with you about the foreign assistance of thes of u.s.-aid in the democratic republic of congo which is particularly relevant in recognition of the international women's day today. my i'm is raj, and been with the

african bureau deputy assistant since october 2010. i worked for 10 years in the global accords that were signed in 2003. as my testimony adds to the theme raised about peace and security, progress towards govern nans and health and well happen being of the population. as part of the directive on development issued recently and in support of the policies issued towards the democratic republic of congo and administer shaw's efforts to look at our review and look at our approaches to our assistance on the continue innocent. we really have taken an effort to look at congo as a very

complex challenge in terms of like sudan and in somalia, so we really have a strategy review that's going on to look at the complex operations on the continent. drc is another example of where diplomacy and development is critical to helping find solution to their current challenges, lay the ground work for meeting the aspirations of its population at the end of the day and build a nation that contributes to regional stability. in that effort, we work with regional organizations, international partners and institutions both in the short term and in the long term. u.s. recognizes the enormous challenges financial resources required to improve the conditions, and in that regard, u.s. government continues to be the largest donor in drc providing $6 million in bilateral assistance in fiscal year 2010 in support to the u.n.

peace keeping cooperations and other institutions and the u.n. dp and human agencies. u.s. foreign assistance is coordinated among agencies through country assistance strategy that outlines our plans for cooperation in addressing the immediate needs as well as long term development needs. in addition, we are one of 19 bilateral and multilateral donors participating in the framework established in 2007 with government of the democratic republic of the can go. this gives us the opportunity as the international community to really leverage our assets and how we bring pressure and establish a dialogue with the congo on development objectives in the congo. mr. chairman, i'd like to review the major development challenges in drc in current summary of u.s.-aid summaries to address them. a current testimony has been

submitted. the drc and particularly in the east continues to experience instability, conflict, and widespread population displacement. a key area of concern remap -- remains with the army. there's reconciliation, infrastructure, lively hoods recovery, and reintegration. our offices of foreign disaster assistance and food for peace have ongoing assistance to provide emergency food relief where lra are active. we are currently working as the regional strategy in support of lra issues as part of our northern uganda strategy as well to find lingses in clr and congo. with regard to the conflict minerals, our activities are in support of the 2010 dodd-frank legislation which requires proving origins. in drc the legal mineral trade

skill groups underminds legitimate economic activity. to reduce the security in government problems regarding trade and conflict min minerals that result in violence we seek to improve the mining code through regulatory support, rehabilitation of roads, and build capacity for better monitoring and transparency including certification. addressing human rights abuse and violence is a high priority for u.s.-aid. it provide act to support services for rape, abusive survivors and their families including medical care, counseling, and legal aid where women are afraid to report to local authorities and how we deal with the local justice to support their efforts. more importantly, we support women survivors and

livelihoods. many times they are not participating in the community recovery activities that are taking place. in addition to addressing the immediate needs of the survivors, u.s.-aid supported drastic critical legislation and subsequent prosecution related to sexual violence, and this continues to be an ongoing challenge given the weakness and the justice institutions in sectors and we are trying to work with both at the national level and the community justice mechanisms at the moment. in turning to democracy in government, there's capacity building among legislators and media. we work to improve the independence of the judicial sectors and bring legal services to remote populations such as mobile courts where possible. in preparation of the drc's presidential and legislative elections, plans for this fall,